Reaching
by wolfchic011
Summary: A few years after the events of Brave, Merida still has not chosen a suitor or even tried to be courted by the boys of her kingdom. But throw in a masked ball, a mysterious suitor, a raven and a little magic... She never expected to fall in love, not like this anyway. Rated T. Merida and OC pairing.
1. Prologue: Legends are Lessons

Prologue: Legends are Lessons

_They named the child Cennwe, after the woman who had given so much for both of them. _

I penned the final word and stretched my aching hand. It was finally done. Daylight was beginning to fade and soon it would be time.

There was a quiet, fast knocking on my door. Well, actually the time was now.

I couldn't help smiling as the tiny, red-haired girl bounded into my room.

"Grandma! Grandma, I'm here!" She launched herself into my lap and hugged me tightly around the middle. I grunted quietly as all the air was forced out of my lungs.

My granddaughter looked up at me with wide blue eyes. "What are we doing today Grandma? What do you want to do?"

She was still quite effectively choking me. "Aleia child, didn't I tell you last time you were getting too big for jumping on me?"

She let go and backed away, hiding her hands behind her back. "Sorry Grandma… I forgot." I smiled kindly at her as air returned to my chest.

"What's that?" She had caught sight of the empty pen and the inked pages upon my desk.

I smiled. "That _cariad_ is today's story." I stood and shuffled to my rocking chair by the window. Each day it seemed to get further away, as if it were taunting me about my age.

Aleia followed and immediately plopped down at my feet, staring up at me in quiet anticipation. I chuckled and began to gently rock back and forth.

"You remember the story I told you about Merida and her mother Queen Elinor?" She nodded, giggling softly. "Well, this is the story of the great love of your great-grandmother, Queen Merida DunBroch. It is a tale of love and family, of betrayal and loss and great sacrifice. A tale of magic and fate and mystery. And it is a tale only to be told once…"

Aleia nodded, eyes wide. "Tell me Grandma…"

I stopped rocking briefly and leaned forward so my face was very close to hers. "I warn you child, it is not a happy tale. It is not the kind of romance you're accustomed too."

She blinked in confusion but nodded. "Alright Grandma. Tell me."

I gave her a very serious look. "Are you sure?"

Aleia stood and climbed into my lap. She sat straight and patient, wanting only for me to continue. My Aleia, the listener.

I waved my hand at the candles and the flame burned a little lower. The dying sunlight streamed in the window and painted us both a deep reddish-gold. I took a deep breath.

"Now… let's start with the day they met…"


	2. Chapter 1: A Mask

Chapter 1: A Mask

_Merida drew back her bow, drawing a deep breath as she did so. Beneath her, Angus galloped swiftly and steadily, carrying her towards her target. She had to time this perfectly…_

_Just as Angus crested the hill, she leapt off his back, taking aim. As she reached the crest of her jump, she fired. The arrow burrowed itself deep into the center of the target, practically splitting the circle in half. Spreading her legs, she landed back in the saddle and had to grab at the reins to steady herself as Angus dashed forward. As rider and horse returned to their stride, she raised the bow over her head and gave a great shout. "I did it! Wahoo! I finally got it!"_

_Angus slid to a halt at the end of the shooting range, snorting and tossing his head. He reared onto his hind legs and she laughed as her hair flowed in the wind with the dying sunlight burning along the horizon…_

"Merida!" Merida was pulled out of the memory by the voice of her mother. She blinked and turned her focus back to the woman brushing her long hair.

"Yes, Mum?"

Queen Elinor chuckled as she pulled her daughters long hair into a tight bun on the back of her head.

"Where'd you go? You seemed so far away."

Merida turned back to the mirror her eyes glowing. "I was."

Elinor gently laid a hand on her daughter's hair. "Well?" Her eyes were reflected above her daughter's in the mirror, gleaming with the same thrill.

Merida sighed happily. "I was in the forest, ridin' Angus. We were practically flyin'. I hit the jump target, first try! And mum, it felt so great, jus bein' out there. Nothin' but me an' Angus an' my bow."

Elinor chuckled, interrupting Merida's revelry. "Sometimes child, I think you'd rather live there than here."

Merida giggled. "Yup."

Elinor stuck a final pin into place and let her hands fall to her daughter's shoulders.

Both women grew silent and somber as they stared at Merida's reflection in the mirror.

"Must I go through with this mother?" Merida asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

Elinor sighed sadly. "_Cariad_," She said gently as Merida rose to her feet "you are now 18 and you've yet to meet someone worthy of your hand. This ball is a good first step."

Merida nodded and lowered her head. Her ball gown was a rich forest-green that wrapped around her neck in a graceful scoop and hugged her hips with curving folds of cloth that mixed and mingled like the branches of a tree before cutting off just above her ankles.

It had been over two years since the ill-fated attempt by her parents to marry her off to a clan son. In these past few years since that attempt, Merida had been spending time learning about politics from her mother with a new interest in the subject, teaching her brothers how to fight with a sword and of course spending hours riding her beloved horse through the woods. There had been seldom few opportunities for mingling and courtship. She had not seen the other clans in almost a year. But she had to face reality: the king and queen were not getting any younger. Before long, she would have to assume the throne with a king at her side and an heir on the way. But first she needed to meet said king.

"Merida..." She looked up at the Queen. Her bottom lip was trembling.

"Mum?"

Her mother tackled her suddenly, tickling her mercilessly. Merida shrieked and tried to push her mother away. "Mum! Mum get off! You'll mess up ma hair!" Even as they struggled, she could feel a few strands rebelliously working their way free of the tight bun.

Elinor relented, gasping for breath. "Remember to smile…" she said gently around her wide grin. Merida nodded, still blinking tears of glee from her eyes.

"I will mum."

Her mother picked up the mask. It was a beautiful thing: crafted of wood and painted a rich forest green in the shape of a leaf that would delicately hide her features. Merida turned around so Elinor could fasten the mask in place. It slid perfectly into place, resting lightly on her nose, hiding all but her eyes and chin from view.

"And Merida." She turned around to face her mother again.

Her mother placed her hands on her shoulders again and looked her in the eyes. "Remember, we don't expect you to pick someone tonight. But if you do find someone worthy, no matter who they are, your father and I will support you no matter what. I promise." Merida smiled.

"Thanks mum."

Elinor gently stroked her daughter's chin. "And try to have fun tonight."

* * *

"That mask is almost as beautiful as my hair."

Merida tried not to roll her eyes as the young man under the blue mask (probably young Lord McIntosh) pulled her across the dance floor. Trying to dance with him was like being pulled by a horse along the forest floor. He was incapable of moving like a normal person. Around them, the other couples swayed and turned along with the music, boots clomping on the stone floor, skirts and kilts whooshing by. Merida and her partner made a sharp turn and Merida caught sight of her parents seated on the dais, watching the proceedings, trying to pretend like they were interested in something else besides her. Her father was terrible at subtlety.

"Your hair is the color of fire, your eyes like two emeralds in a field of snow…" This time Merida actually did roll her eyes. How she longed to step on his toes to get him to shut up! The point of this masked ball was to avoid overreaching attempts like this to court and woo her. She hadn't said a word to anyone all night so as to avoid anyone making educated guesses as to who was the tree with fiery bun of hair. But all the same, it seemed like everyone who danced with her was aware of who she was. She had a strong suspicion her identity had been compromised, probably by her brother Hubert, the devil. She was going to kill him for this.

Her suitor was still spewing out his rehearsed praise: "… and bright as the dawn. My Lady I wish you could…" Thankfully, Merida heard no more because the dance shifted and she was able to quickly drop her partner's hand. She raised her arms above her head and shuffled with the crowd in formation, mercilessly losing track of her last partner in the mix. She spun in time to the music and held out her hand for her next partner in the dance, steeling herself for another shuffler, or a mumbler or worst of all a starer who would watch her with all the intelligence of a lamb…

The hand that slid into hers was strong and slim. As her palm met that of her partner, Merida's heart seemed to stumble over a beat and she almost stopped dancing. Then the person's other hand immediately met her waist and Merida was pulled around to face them, feeling as if she were gliding across the floor. Her free hand went immediately to her new partner's shoulder which rippled pleasantly with muscle without making it impossible to hold. Even with her stumble, they hadn't missed a step. She drew a quick little breath as she looked up into eyes of an impossible color. Eyes of liquid gold. The rest of the features were hidden behind black feathers and a beak. Short, black hair tumbled messily over the edge of the mask, looking for all the world like actual feathers. Just along the bottom edge of the mask, she could see the bottom of delicate lips curved up as if in a smile.

The boy said nothing as they spun across the floor but somehow, Merida was okay with this. She was far too busy enjoying the feeling of dancing with someone who was right. He matched her every step perfectly, letting her lead when it was right and swiftly compensating for any mistake either of them made. Dancing had never felt so fluid.

The pair was silent for a few more steps, their eyes never breaking contact as they danced across the room. Despite the distracting, impossibly molten eyes however, a different question was first on Merida's mind.

"Is that a crow or a raven?" She finally asked.

The eyes sparkled and gleamed like they were sharing a private joke. "A raven." He replied and Merida experienced a slight flutter near her stomach that made her feel light and giddy and nervous all at the same time. Her partner's voice was light and gentle, like the light through the branches of a tree. They briefly pulled away from each other to follow the dance, their hands still linked together. Without his eyes in her direct line of vision, she noticed he was not wearing a kilt as most of the other men were but instead long black pants and a loose, flowing shirt of the same color. "'Tis a marvelous bird," he continued as he pulled her close again. "I thought it appropriate."

Merida chortled. "That beak is ridiculous! How d'you even speak around that?"

"With great care and skill." He replied, spinning her gracefully and picking up her misstep from her slight dizzy fumble like he'd been doing it for years. "And I'm glad I chose it, despite the handicap. It makes a wonderful complement to your mask."

Merida made sure the room had stopped spinning before she replied. "How so?"

"A bird always returns to the tree, to its home." The boy said. "So shall I."

"And where is home?" Merida asked, hoping he wouldn't pick up her not-so-subtle attempt to guess who he was.

The boy didn't answer but she knew by the slight twinkle in his eye that he acknowledged the question and knew exactly why she had asked it. His hand left her waist and long fingers gently brushed the loose lock of hair by her forehead. It barely more than a flicker of movement, a casual, passing gesture but it still sent her heart stumbling over itself. What was wrong with her? "I would like to see your hair loose and free," he commented softly, more to himself than to Merida. "it would make you look like a tree on fire."

Merida said nothing in return. What exactly could she say to that? It wasn't a compliment, not exactly but it wasn't rude or passive and it wasn't something one usually said. She watched him watch her. He didn't compliment her looks or her outfit, he merely appraised them delicately with his eyes like he was so grateful for each detail, so eager to take it all in all at once. "A flaming tree." He said quietly, absentmindedly brushing the lock again. "How ironic…"

His hand abruptly dropped back to its place at her side. "Forgive me my forwardness, good tree." He implored, sounding somewhat mortified with his actions. "I do hope I haven't overstepped my place."

Merida tried to breathe quietly. "By no means. In fact I found it… quite an interesting description."

He chuckled. "You must be having a terribly dull night if that passes for interesting."

She gave an aggravated roll of the eyes. "Tonight overall has not been fun."

"So what are you doing here, if not for enjoyment?"

Merida sighed more than a little dramatically. "My parents." She replied, catching a brief glance of the dais as they danced by. The king and queen were still pointedly pretending to ignore her. "They intend for me to find a suitor here and possibly marry." She said flatly. She wasn't completely against the idea of marriage, not if it was to a lad with strong shoulders and golden eyes and hair that… she shook her head to rid it of that particular train of thought. She looked away, blushing at her complete openness with this boy. She'd only just met him, she reminded herself. But he was so easy to talk to; there was something in those golden eyes that wanted to hear her complaints, her secrets and her fears. Something she knew she could trust.

The raven-boy was glancing around. "Are they here?" He asked in barely a whisper.

Merida giggled at his attempts to be humorous. As if he didn't know who she was. "Oh yes, they're watching me like ravens right now, trying to determine how tonight is going."  
The lips curved up in a smile again. "That's a shame."

"Why d'you say that?"

He dipped his head slightly and spoke from under the beak. "Because if they weren't watching, I'd kiss you right now."

Her heart was now pounding away somewhere in her throat. "We could duck behind a column, just for a second." The words had tumbled from her mouth without any coherent thought on her part. "They'd be none the wiser."

The beak hid his smile but she saw it in his eyes. "Ah but no. You misunderstand. I am not aiming to kiss your lips. No, that would be far too bold of me. And well…" He gestured wordlessly at the beak and Merida smiled weakly. "It is too early for such kisses." He continued and Merida swore they had somehow moved closer to each other without any conscious thought. "Kisses like that come only after one knows enough to trust the other to close their eyes." He wrapped his fingers with hers, even though the dance was easier if they were palm to palm. His voice dropped in both volume and pitch. "The time for kissing has not yet come. No, for now, let us just learn each other's moves. Just hold each other's hands here together."

Merida nodded, suddenly not trusting her voice. She wondered exactly where he intended to kiss her if he hadn't been thinking of her lips. The brilliant golden eyes closed as they danced across the floor, hand in hand, his free hand ever so lightly supporting the small of her back. Her hand had drifted from his shoulder to the back of his neck, where she could feel the loose ends of the tie holding his mask in place and the ends of his hair brushed the back of her hand. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off of him. Both of them knew what was coming: the end of their short time together, the separation of hands, the spin away, the coming of a new partner. But it only made them hold on all the tighter.

The crowd shuffled together into a press of bodies, the final move before the swap of partners. It hadn't been more than five minutes since her hand had first touched that of the raven-boy's but Merida had all but forgotten that there were others she had to dance with, others she had to smile at and listen to. As the crowd moved, Merida found herself and the raven-boy gliding right into the very center of the swarm, hands still clasped tightly together. They were quite effectively hidden by their fellow dancers as the crowd raised their arms to break from their current partners. Instead of releasing her hand like he was supposed to, he instead cupped her hand delicately in his own. In that final second before they were supposed to break apart, before their hands had to slip away from each other, he leaned down and brought Merida's hand up under the beak of his mask to meet his lips. It was a chaste gesture but the feeling it awakened in her was anything but. His eyes flashed once in triumph then he was gone, disappearing into the flurry of skirts and boots and kilts to meet a new partner. Merida tried to follow his path but it was like trying to find where a wisp had vanished to.

She could still feel the soft, warm imprint of his lips on her hand as she picked up the dance again and met her next partner.

"Hello sis." The cheerful, cheeky voice broke through her stupor.

"Hamish! What're you doing here?"

Her youngest brother grinned at her from under his bear mask. "Dancin', what does it look like?" The triplets were only 11 years old but they resembled their father so much that they easily passed for teenagers. Hamish was the shortest of the three and he was only an inch shorter than his older sister. The crowd separated again and the siblings moved around the room in tandem.

Even though Hamish was a superb dancer in his own right (arguably the best of all her brothers), Merida couldn't help but miss the feel of her last partner as she stumbled a bit and then had to double step to keep up.

"Harris and Hubert are here too." Hamish continued. "Mum and Dad don't want you out here all alone among so many bonnie laddies."

Merida glared at his blurry form as he spun her. "The whole point of this is for me to meet suitable husbands, not dance with my brothers."

Hamish feigned offense. "What so I'm not suitable for her Highness?"

Merida resisted the urge to kick him. "No, as a matter, you are by no means fit to be king you wee nyaff."

Hamish smirked, obviously deciding to ignore the insult this time. "So what about that last lad eh? He caught your interest."

Merida didn't even try to deny it. "You saw?" She and Hamish separated and came back together.

"I noticed you were actually speakin' a him instead of forcing yourself to smile." Hamish said casually. "So he was worthy, of the fair maiden?"

Merida shrugged but her heart wasn't in it. "I didn't even get his name."

Hamish's smile became slightly wicked. "But you want to know his name."

She smiled. Little Hamish, always the clever one. "Can you get Harris on him?"

"Now, now." He scolded, pretending to be appalled. "Stalking the lad isn't going to make him like you any better." This time, she actually did kick him, but so discretely that it looked like he had merely stumbled.

"Very funny Hamish." She snapped as he righted himself with a foolish grin. Her voice softened. "But you're right. I do want a know who he is."

He winked. "Consider it done sis. Now excuse me…" The crowd moved to shift partners again and Hamish ducked away from her.

She watched as he gestured to another bear-masked boy in the crowd and the two melted out of the dancers, scampering away to the shadows of the columns. But at that point, her next partner (a huge, hulking, beast of a lad in a red mask) grabbed her hand and began spewing awful poetry to her and she was obliged to pay attention to him and smile and not snap at him to shut it. By the time she was free of him, she had lost sight of both her brothers and could still see no glimpse of the suitor. Merida searched all night as the ball dragged on but she did not see the raven-boy again.

* * *

The red-haired boys slipped by but didn't notice the figure hidden in the shadows. But the figure saw them. After all, wearing black in the shadows doesn't make one blind.

They stayed completely still as the crowd of suitors and the various young women dancing with them twisted and swayed around the floor for hours on end, mixing endlessly to find new partners. The dance continued like an enormous beast, stretching and flexing itself. The figure didn't move out of the shadow of the column, nor did they remove their mask.

They only moved towards the end of the night, when the flaming tree they had been dancing with approached the dais where King Fergus and Queen Elinor had been waiting, watching the proceedings of their daughter's ball.

When their eyes took this in, the raven-masked suitor stiffened, turned on their heel and left the castle, vanishing into the night with all the likeness the mask they wore.


	3. Chapter 2: A Surprise Encounter

Chapter 2: A Surprise Encounter

The next morning, just before the sun crested the horizon, Merida slipped into the kitchen and snatched a ripe apple off of the pile on the end of the table. She stuck it in her mouth and bit down so it would stay in place while she adjusted her riding dress and prepared to make her escape.

"Going somewhere?" She froze, one hand on the doorknob, the apple still in her mouth. _Not him… not now!_ She turned around.

A tall, chestnut-haired man stepped out from the shadows, like he had been waiting for her. "It's a little early for a stroll, my Princess." He said disapprovingly, with just a hint of condescension.

Merida took the apple out of her mouth, hastily swallowing the mouthful she bit off in the process so she could adopt a somewhat less disrespectful tone than the one currently running through her mind.

"If you must know Lord Casey, I'm not goin' out for a stroll. I'm goin' ridin'."

Lord Evan Casey, lesser member of court stepped closer to her in the dim kitchen, examining his nails with a bored expression. "So early all on your own? Wouldn't you rather prefer some company?"

Merida took a huge bite of the apple. "O'course I'm not goin' alone." She said around the mess of fruit in her mouth, bits of apple spraying not-so-accidentally in Lord Casey's direction. "Oh I do apologize…"

He looked down and flicked a bit of apple off his tunic with his finger in disgust. "If I might inquire; with whom will you be riding this morning?"

"She's going hunting with her brother, Harris." Queen Elinor said, entering the kitchen and saving her daughter from responding with a snapping refusal of his inquiry. Even this early, the Queen looked as resplendent and regal as she did if she were serving court.

Lord Casey bowed respectfully to the Queen. "With respect my Queen, I do not see Lord Harris here." He observed.

The Queen shook her head. "Oh that lazy lad! He must still be asleep. Why don't you go an' wake him?" Merida nearly burst out laughing at the incredulity on Lord Casey's face. Clearly that was not a task he felt proud to have bestowed upon him, even by the Queen. Elinor waved him away. "Go on. Tell him he'll be late if he doesn't hurry! We wouldn't want our Princess riding out into the woods all on her own."

With a look between mother and daughter that dripped with suspicion, Lord Casey climbed the stairs. Merida watched him go, resisting the urge to stick her apple-covered tongue out at his back. Lord Casey was from the far Southern territories governed by the Dingwall clan and was the ambassador of the Casey clan (and related interests) to the DunBroch court. He'd only been here for the last two years and although his position in the royal court was one of the lowest, he seemed to enjoy pretending he had more power and influence than he actually did. This wasn't the first time he'd tried to follow her around.

Merida turned to Elinor. "Mum, what're you doin' up so early?"

The Queen turned to her, her expression very serious. "Never mind that!" She said, shoving a handful of cakes and a water gourd at her daughter. "Now hurry up! Before he comes back!"

Merida grinned. "Thanks mum."

Elinor kissed her on the forehead. "Be back before noon!" She called softly as Merida slipped out the door.

* * *

Merida rode Angus hard and fast into the forest along the familiar path. The targets of her shooting range raced by them but she made no effort to swing her prized bow off her back and take aim at them.

No, this particular morning she just needed to ride. To clear her head, get her thoughts off of him. The raven-boy from last night with the golden eyes and gentle hands. He had haunted her dreams too: she kept imagining them dancing together, his smile teasing her from under the beak, the eyes sparkling as they gazed into her own…

"Is this what love feels like Angus?" She asked the horse as she dismounted by the river. Angus tossed his head once then lowered it to drink, still puffing heavily from the run. "It's so frustrating!" Merida continued. "I don't even know his name and I still can't stop thinking about him!" Angus snorted but whether from agreement or water up his nose, Merida couldn't tell.

"Oh what am I askin' you for?" She patted his flank, earning her a gentle swat on the back of the head from his tail. "Okay… okay…"

Merida splashed cold water on her face and refilled her gourd in the clear stream. The sun was fully visible now. It was going to be a beautiful day: clear and warm and breezy with just a hint of autumn chill in the air. A bird shot by overhead but it had disappeared into the woods across the river before Merida could get a good look at it.

As she gazed across the river to where the bird had vanished, Merida's eyes were drawn to a familiar pile of stones. The old witch's cottage wasn't too far from here. Come to think of it, she had never returned there to thank the witch for her spell (not to mention the hundreds of wood carvings that had appeared at the castle a week later).

Merida stood. If she went into the woods a ways, she might be able to find the trail the wisps had set for her a few years ago and by extension, also find the cottage again. Deciding it was better than sitting around and brooding over her dreams, Merida swung her quiver of arrows off the saddle and attached it to her belt.

"I'll be right back Angus. You stay here." The horse neighed loudly, then rolled onto his back and scratched himself luxuriously in the dust.

Merida laughed. "See you soon."

She splashed across the river and set off on foot for the cottage.

* * *

_I should have known it was hopeless…_ Merida sighed as she ended up at the edge of the river again. Angus looked up and whinnied.

"Oh hush." She called across the river. Angus snorted in response and went back to cropping grass. Ignoring him, Merida turned on her heel and ducked back into the trees. She passed the pile of stones again, this time heading right instead of left.

She hadn't gone more than two hundred feet before the deer path she was following split in two. The one to her left twisting and hopping between trees, quickly disappearing. The path on her right followed the edge of the river until it broke away and dove into the trees. Merida turned looking down each path. Both could conceivably lead in the right direction but it was impossible to tell if they did without picking one and walking down it.

But which one?

"…_Merida…_"

She whirled around at the call, bow in hand. It was…. A wisp? She stared at it, breathing a quietly as possible.

The ephemeral creature was floating at the entrance to the left path, beckoning her towards it with long, ghostly arms.

Pulling her bow back over her shoulder, Merida walked slowly towards it. She hadn't seen one in years, not since the night the spell on her mother had been broken. And she'd never heard one speak before.

The creature flew a few feet further down the path and hovered above a stone on the ground.

"… _Merida…_" The voice was low and echoed quietly, the kind of voice you expected to hear from the spirits of ancient ruins. She walked closer to it. It only drifted further away.

"It's me… I am Merida." She told it.

It stopped, hovering next to a huge tree. "_Merida…"_

She stretched out a hand and the creature abruptly vanished with a low whisper. Merida looked around but no other wisps had appeared. There was no path laid out for her. She turned to her left and gasped in surprise. The pillars of the ancient stone circle were visible through the trees. Merida looked to her right and her mouth went dry. _This is it._ The familiar path stretched out before her: the slight gully that always seemed to be dark, even in this bright sunlight, tangled with branches and trees and stones. She began to walk, one hand clutching at her bow the other lightly resting on her quiver. It had been so long since she'd first walked this path but the feelings of intrigue mixed with a deep foreboding were exactly the same now as they had been that first time. Her heart quickened as she recognized a stand of trees, then a large rock. Before long, she was jogging, confidence and a slight unsettling uneasiness that she was being watched driving her forward. She ducked under low-hanging dead branches, leapt over rocks. It couldn't be much further now…

Merida clambered up a hill, stumbling a bit on the edge of her skirt.

A familiar smell hit her hard. There was smoke!

Picking up speed, Merida raced over and down the incline. But instead of a rebuilt cabin teeming with woodcarvings and old witch and her talking crow, she found herself instead bearing down on a small camp complete with fire, drying meat and a single inhabitant.

Startled, she stumbled on her skirt and tumbled head over heels the rest of the way down the hill, landing rather ungracefully and painfully in a large bush.

The figure by the fire leapt to their feet. "What are ye doin'?" The loud voice commanded.

Merida straightened up, brushing her rebellious hair out of her face. "Sorry, sorry I didn't mean too…" She broke off. "What are you doin'?"

The black-haired girl dressed only in long beige pants and a breast band standing by the fire was holding a small frying pan. "I um…. I…" She was staring at Merida in shock.

Merida raised her eyebrows. "Well?"

The girl took up a stance. "I'm attacking you!" Now Merida stared at her, taking in her scrawny, incompletely clothed form and the miniature cooking implement she was threatening her with.

She gestured at the frying pan. "What, with that?" The girl nodded, her short hair bobbing.

"Yup."

She couldn't be serious. "What would you do with that?" Merida asked teasingly.

"I'm going to cook you breakfast on it, what do you think?" The girl shot back but in a far less threatening tone.

Merida raised an eyebrow. "You can't do that…" She pointed out, trying not to laugh.

"Sure I could, it's hot."

"No it isn't."

The girl shrugged, relaxing her stance. "Well, it's warm. Could still do some damage…" She placed the pan aside and sat back down.

Merida chuckled. "Yes, I'd be thoroughly warmed and comforted." She admitted, stepping out of the bush and checking herself. She still had her bow and all her arrows. A few cuts and some twigs in her hair but nothing major. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just…" She looked up and trailed off. Her companion was pointedly not looking at her. She walked to stand just behind the girl near, the crackling fire. "Are you alright?" Merida looked around. The cabin was just as she had left it the night of the explosion. The only difference was a sleeping roll had been spread out under the makeshift shelter she had constructed that night and the large cauldron had been dragged outside into the clearing. Strips of meat (probably rabbit), a blackened kettle and the tiny frying pan were cluttered around the fire, vying for access to the heat. Several knives of various sizes and sharpness were scattered both around the cauldron and the fire. Two travelers' bags rested beside the hearth. Wood shavings littered the ground.

No other living soul was visible.

She turned back to the girl. "Why are you out here alone?"

The girl still didn't look at Merida. She poked at the fire with a stick, sending sparks flying up. "I don't think it's wise for you to be here, your Majesty."

Merida blinked in surprise. "How do you…?"

She chuckled. "I'd recognize the famed Dunbroch Princess with or without her equally famous bow." The girl said, throwing her stick into the fire. It quickly caught and burst into red-orange flames. She looked up. "Plus, I have an eye for nobility."

Merida's heart stopped. Her eyes were the color of molten gold.

* * *

The girl smiled obliviously up at a dumbfounded and transfixed Merida. "Keegan McEaneny, at your service m'lady."

Merida was having trouble forming a coherent thought. Those eyes were identical to the ones from last night. "Keegan…" She repeated slowly, turning the name over in her mind. "isn't that…?"

Keegan grimaced. "Aye… It's a lad's name…" She shook her head with a smile. "My brother loves to tease me about it…"

With those words, the shock keeping Merida's mind frozen shattered. "You have a brother?"

Keegan nodded.

"Where is he?" Merida demanded, remembering at the last second not to shout.

Keegan leaned back slightly in surprise. "I'm actually… I'm actually looking for him at the moment." She admitted. "You haven't seen him have you?"

"What does he look like?" Merida asked hoping she already knew the answer.

"Ahh you can't forget him. He loves to talk." Keegan said. She brushed her hair back. "He's black, with eyes just like mine." Those eyes looked up at Merida, wide and eager. "Have you seen him?"

Merida shivered slightly. "Yes… he. He was at the ball, last night." She told Keegan.

She chuckled uneasily. "Troublemaker… he wasn't invited."

Keegan reached into a small bag by the fire, pulled out a billowing green shirt and began to pull it over her head. "He likes to wander off…" She said through the fabric. "I thought he might be around here at some point though."

Merida looked around at the ruined cottage, the dark woods, the complete and utter solitude of the place. "Why look for him here of all places?" She asked.

Keegan's head popped out of the shirt before she answered. "We grew up here." She said, gesturing at the ruined cottage. "I know these woods."

It took a second for those words to sink in. "You knew the witch?" Merida asked, utterly amazed.

Keegan stood, tucking the back of her shirt into her belt. Her brow creased. "You mean Cennwe?"

"Who's Cennwe?" Merida asked.

Keegan glanced behind her and her expression suddenly darkened. "Princess…" She slowly drew a long, wickedly sharp knife from the back of her belt. "Get behind me." Merida turned, unconsciously reaching for an arrow.

"Where?" She asked, pulling her bow off her shoulder as she slowly walked around the fire.

Keegan gestured with her eyes at a huge, gnarled tree on the edge of the clearing. Merida noticed the odd shadow now. "One there, but I bet he's got a friend on the other side somewhere."

Merida scanned the trees. "What makes you think so?"

"How many people do you know who would wander around the forest alone?"

"Apart from you and me?" Merida pointed out. Keegan's face lifted into a smile that lit up her eyes. Merida immediately thought of the other person she knew with eyes that lit up like that and found herself blushing. She examined the trees around them, her eyes searching for movement, odd shadows, anything. "Where d'you think?" She asked in a whisper.

Keegan gestured with her eyes again. "There." She said quietly. Merida nodded in agreement.

"Same." She backed up until their shoulders were securely pressed together. Keegan drew a sharp breath and her muscles contracted against Merida's back.

"You got my back?" The girl asked, picking up an identical knife from the ground and gripping it tightly. Merida could just see it out of the corner of her eye.

"Have you got mine?" Merida replied, cocking her arrow.

There was a pause. The knife at the edge of Merida's vision trembled. "…Yeah…" Keegan breathed in a shaking voice.

Merida scanned the tree line, looking for a way to flush the stalker. Her eyes were drawn to the edge of branch half-way up the tree he was behind. A hornet's nest dangled there, a few inhabitants circling it lazily. _Perfect_.

She gently nudged Keegan. The girl glanced at Merida over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow in question. Merida lifted her bow slightly and shot a quick look towards the hornet's nest. She looked back at Keegan and raised both eyebrows.

Still keeping half an eye on the hiding place of her target, Keegan shook her head. Merida's brow furrowed in confusion and she nudged the girl again. _Why not?_

Keegan raised one of her knifes, pointing the blade first at the nest then at the ground. Merida followed her indications and shrugged. _So?_

Keegan pointed at the ground again, raising both eyebrows as she did so and this time Merida saw the problem. They were at the lowest spot in the clearing: all around them the land sloped steeply upwards towards the trees. If she dropped the nest, it would roll towards them. She slowly lowered her bow. _I would have incapacitated us both…_

Keegan gently nudged her in the back and looked higher in the tree. Merida followed her gaze. A squirrel clung to a narrow branch, reaching desperately for the nuts dangling from the very end. The branch was bent dangerously far under his weight.

Merida smirked, feeling her confidence return. _Easy_. Keegan grinned. _3…2…1!_

In one smooth, fluid motion, Merida raised the bow and fired. Her arrow flew straight and true, tearing right through the straining end of the branch. With a snap of breaking wood and a surprised chatter, branch, nuts, squirrel and all tumbled downwards. They disappeared behind the tree with a thump.

Someone screamed.

With a scream of her own, Keegan dashed for her own tree on the opposite side of the clearing. Merida ran towards her tree, reaching for another arrow. Her heart raced impossibly fast as she dashed up the incline, knocking her arrow in place. She rounded the tree in time to see a burly man dressed in black running away into the woods as fast as his short legs could carry him, his hair mussed, scratches covering his face and neck. Above her head the very angry squirrel scolded loudly.

She loosed her arrow after the fleeing man. It buried itself at head height in the tree he was running past. Even at this distance, Merida heard his shriek.

"An' stay away ye rascal!" She yelled after him. The man vanished among the trees.

Nodding in satisfaction, Merida raced back down the incline. The clearing was empty. "Keegan?" She called, pulling another arrow from her quiver. "Keegan, where are you?"

There was no answer. Merida placed the arrow on her bowstring and stepped toward Keegan's tree. A twig snapped and something rustled from the spot. Merida's bow was at her cheek in an instant, arrow pulled all the way back. "Keegan?" She called again.

The black haired girl stumbled back into view. "Princess? Are you alright?" She looked up and held her knifes up in surrender. "No need to shoot me. Why don't you put that thing down?" Merida stared, watching the blood run down Keegan's left leg.

Still keeping her knifes in the air, Keegan limped back towards the fire. "I sent the lad running." She claimed. She sat heavily on the stone, her knives falling to the dirt. "We won' see him again."

Realizing her arrow was still pulled back to her cheek, Merida quickly relaxed her grip.

"Never mind him, what happened to you?" She asked, rushing back to the fireside and crouching beside Keegan.

The girl waved a hand. "Oh he had a blade of his own." She winced as she pulled the leg around to examine the cut on her calf. It didn't look too deep but there was still a lot of blood. "Wasn't shy about using it neither."

Keegan ran a finger down the outside of the cut, as if trying to determine just how long it was. "Pass me the bag…" She said, gesturing at the two travelers' bags resting beside the fire. "That small one there."

Merida passed the smaller of the two bags to the girl. It was surprisingly heavy.

Keegan placed the bag at her feet and rummaged through it, pulling out various objects: a lump of silver, a vial of powder, a golden ring, a handful of small bones, several roots, a length of wood inlaid with runes, a carving of a bear and a carving of a bird, a handful of tiny knifes no longer than Merida's littlest finger…

Merida crouched down next to Keegan, her suspicions slowly being confirmed. "You… you're a… a witch?" She asked in a whisper.

"The technical term is sorceress." Keegan replied, still pulling random objects out of the bag. "But… yes. I am, in the simplest sense of the word, a practitioner of the mystical and ancient arts of the land. A witch."

Merida could hear her heart pounding deafeningly in her ears. "And… the witch… the wood-carver…Cennwe…? She was… your mother?"

"Teacher." Keegan corrected her, tipping the bag upside down and shaking it. A few long black feathers fell out and drifted down to join the small pile on the ground. "Damn, my potion's gone… have to do this the slow way I guess."

She reached into the pile and plucked a linen bandage from the mess. Placing the bandage aside, she started to roll up her pants leg. When she turned back, Merida had taken bandage. "Let me." Merida said gently, beginning to unwind the cloth.

Keegan opened her mouth as if to protest but quickly closed it again as Merida shot her a look she had learned from her mother. "There's water in my pouch there." She told Merida, pointing at a small waterskin beside the fire.

Merida scooped up the full pouch and poured a little over the wound. The blood washed away but the cut still shone wetly, threatening to spill more blood. She quickly started winding the bandage around Keegan's leg.

"If you are a witch, why don't you just heal yourself?" Merida asked.

"Magic cannot be used on the wielder." Keegan explained as Merida finished wrapping and tied the loose end of the bandage in a simple knot. She nodded in thanks. "It goes against some of the most ancient and fundamental laws of sorcery. Can you shoot yourself with your bow?" She asked Merida suddenly.

Unsure where this was going, Merida considered the question. "Well, maybe if I tried really hard… and tilted it really awkwardly and hit myself in the foot."

"Yes but that would be tedious and counter-productive, not to mention painful." Keegan pointed out, rolling her pants leg back down to cover the bandage.

Merida frowned, lost. "What does this have to do with magic?"

"Nothin', I was just makin' a point. Magic works just like a tool or a weapon. It's simply improbable, awkward and unhelpful to use your weapon on yourself." She said all this like she was giving a lecture. Merida stared at her. They were both silent for a moment. Then, as if just realizing how nonchalant and borderline rude that last statement had sounded, Keegan ducked her head, color rising to her cheeks. "Forgive me Princess… I…"

"Please stop calling me Princess." Merida interrupted, climbing back to her feet. "You just fought off a ruffian for me. Call me Merida."

Keegan looked up slowly, meeting Merida's eyes. "Merida…" She repeated softly. "That's beautiful."

Merida momentarily lost herself in those eyes. The same eyes that had haunted her dreams. Eyes that also belonged to a strong lad with a gift for dancing and a thing for ravens…

Merida shook herself and looked away from Keegan to the surrounding trees. "I wonder what those men were doing all the way out here…" She said, gesturing out over the woods around them. "My father keeps the borders clear and we've never had bandits or thieves reported in these woods before."

Keegan got to her feet, gingerly putting weight on her injured leg. But she said nothing.

As Keegan stooped to begin piling her sorcery instruments back into her bag, Merida glanced back at her. Something about this girl intrigued her. Growing up in the castle, Merida didn't have a lot of friends her own age. There weren't many young girls or boys around the castle that weren't servants. She'd only met one witch in her life and that one had been quite eccentric. Keegan, not so much despite claiming to have been taught by the same witch. "So… you're really a witch?" She asked, trying not to sound too skeptical.

Keegan nodded, still looking at the ground. "Spells, potions, curses, wood-carvings and all, yes."

Merida looked her over again. The back of Keegan's hands and fingers were covered in thin, white scars: the same kind that would cover the hands of any wood-carver. She looked nothing like a witch: no knobby hands, no charms dangling around her neck, no talking familiar. "But you can't cast spells on yourself?"

Keegan scooped up the black feathers and dumped them on top of the unsightly mess in her bag. "Nope." She replied. "Not without extenuatin' circumstances that rarely ever occur." She considered the bag a moment, shot a fleeting glance at Merida then raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The items shuffled themselves around until they were sorted neatly.

Merida grinned, a dangerous idea beginning to form in her mind. "Could you use magic on me?"

Keegan looked up in surprise. "That depends. What do you want me to do?"

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I've always wanted to try it and now I can!"

Keegan slid off Angus' back and stumbled a bit on her injured leg. "I could refuse you know. Magic is very demandin' and fine, that's why it's usually only done for a price. You have given me nothin'."

"Yes, but you're still here." Merida said, bouncing excitedly on her heels and grinning.

Keegan blinked once and averted her gaze, muttering under her breath. She set her bag down on a small patch of grass and pretended to be busy rummaging through it.

Merida gazed out over the hills. She had come here so many times, watching the birds dive and wheel of the misty hills, the sun light up the Fire Falls. The Crone's Tooth was no longer a challenge to her, she had done that climb so many times she could do it one-handed (she actually had on one occasion).

But what they were planning to do would easily trump anything she had done here before.

"We didn' have to come here you know." Keegan said from the ground, interrupting Merida's revelry. "We could have just stayed in the woods and done it among the trees." She slipped the golden ring on the first finger of her left hand.

Merida shook her head, stubbornly. "No, I always imagined it here."

Keegan looked up. "You imagined doin' this?"

Merida turned to face her. "Yes. It's always been a fantasy of mine."

Keegan's gaze clouded and she dropped her gaze back to her bag. "I hate it when people get what they imagine…" She muttered bitterly, pulling a black feather out of her bag. "it's never good enough in the end…"

"If you don't want to…"Merida began, not wanting to force the girl into anything just because she was a princess.

Keegan shook her head. "No, we're here. Might as well." Keegan took a deep breath and let it out slowly in a sigh. "Now, how do you want to go about this? There are three things I could try…" She picked up her bag and slung it around her neck so she could dig through it again.

"I could mix up an internal spell that would transform you into a bird, probably a hawk in your case. But if anythin' goes wrong, you'd then be stuck like that forever… Or I could manipulate the air currents around you to lift you and carry you. Of course, that's difficult and if it slips for even a second you could plummet to your death… Or I could enchant a piece of your clothing to fly and carry you with it. But those tend to drift off and never be seen again."

Merida let Keegan ramble on, watching her present the situation. She had no idea magic was this complicated. That old witch had made it look so simple. Get request, make spell, give spell to requester.

Merida realized Keegan had stopped talking and was looking at her expectantly.

"I… I think the air currents." Merida stammered.

Keegan's eyebrows shot up. "Really? If somethin' goes wrong with my control, I would send you plummetin' down."

Merida turned back to the vista, the wind sending her hair dancing. "I trust you." She said absently.

Keegan was silent for a moment. "… you… you really trust me?" She asked quietly.

Merida turned back to her. "Yes." Keegan played with the feather in her hand, looking away from Merida. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just… you've only just met me." She turned her golden eyes back to Merida. "What makes you so sure I'm trustworthy?"

Merida shrugged. "I like your eyes."

Keegan blinked again and cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Well then… let's… let's get goin'!"

Keegan handed the feather to Merida. "Hold onto this, tightly." Merida took it, turning it over in her hands. It was sleek and thick and fell softly against her fingers when she stroked it.

"Is this a crow's feather?" She asked.

"Not quite…" Keegan replied pulling out an identical feather. "Good guess though, it's actually a raven's."

Keegan held up a hand. "Please be quiet now. I need to focus." Merida closed her lips around her question and waited in breathless anticipation.

With the other feather cupped in her palms, Keegan closed her eyes and raised her face to the sky. She opened her mouth and inhaled deeply. Lowering her face, she exhaled slowly into her palms. The feather there gently rose into the air and hovered above Keegan's open palms, held aloft by an invisible air current. At the same time, Merida felt her feet leave the ground.

* * *

She had always imagined that if she ever tasted flight, she would be so euphoric that she would scream at the top of her lungs, her heart bursting with joy, her lungs breathing faster than ever while she dived, swooped and soared, completely free.

But as Keegan said, it wasn't quite what she imagined.

She couldn't seem to move. Or make a sound. There was nothing under her feet. Nothing holding her up. Nothing tying her down. And it felt….. she didn't know how it felt.

She felt different, like she had left Merida behind and become something else entirely.

And then Keegan gently moved one of her hands and she knew what she was feeling. _Complete and Utter Freedom._ As Keegan manipulated the feather floating above her hands, Merida moved through the air, carried on an invisible cushion of wind. She was only eight feet or so above the cliff top but it felt like eighty. She wanted to be higher, to move faster! She soared to the right, out along the edge of the cliff and looked out at the hills stretching impossibly far in every direction. Merida stretched out her arms like a bird and the dream was complete. She was touching the sky.

A sudden strong gust of wind, ripped the feather from her hands.

The dream shattered and she fell towards reality.

This wouldn't have been a problem. If the wind hadn't pushed her out over the cliff edge.

The scream tore from her throat as she plummeted downward, towards the ground hundreds of feet below her… jagged rocks zooming up to meet her as the wind screamed past her face…

A hand closed around her wrist and quiet suddenly, with seemingly little effort, she was being dragged from the edge of the cliff and into a pair of strong arms.

"It's alright! It's alright, I've got you." Merida's arms instinctively clenched her savior in a tight embrace, her breathing fast and hard. Never before had she thought she would love the feeling of standing on solid ground this much.

Keegan laughed nervously. "Don't worry, I won't drop you."

Merida looked up and into Keegan's molten eyes. She opened her mouth to thank her but somehow no words would form. They instead stood in silence, gazing at each other, arms wrapped tightly around each other like sisters embracing after time spent apart.

After some time, Keegan finally spoke. "Ummm Merida… I know you're grateful and all but d'you think you could loosen your grip a bit?"

Merida suddenly realized she was practically strangling Keegan and abruptly let go and stepped away. "Thanks… sorry…"

Keegan brushed herself off and took a shaky breath. "I told you that spell was tricky… promise you won't make me do it again." Her teeth nibbled nervously at the bottom corner of her upper lip. Her eyes suddenly widened, gazing at something over Merida's shoulder. "Princess, look!"

Merida turned around. The falls glowed orange in the light of the setting sun, liquid fire raining hundreds of feet down the cliff face. At any other time, she would have found this breathtakingly beautiful. But all it did now was fill her with anxiety.

"Oh no… it's late! It's so late!" She was supposed to have been back at noon, how was it already sunset?

She hurriedly picked up the feather Keegan had dropped and scooped up the bag. "I've got to go back… mum will kill me for this…" She looked at the girl, another idea forming in her mind. "Come with me." She offered.

Keegan practically jumped. "What?"

Merida shoved the bag into her hands and took her by the sleeve to lead her back towards the forest. "Come on! We'll get your things and get back to the castle by nightfall."

Keegan dug in her heels. "With all due respect Princess…" She pleaded. "I really can't… I…"

Merida continued to walk back towards the woods, not letting go of Keegan's arm. "Nonsense, I'm not leaving you out here all alone in the cold. You saved my life. Twice." She stopped and threw a smile over her shoulder. "And I told you, call me Merida."

* * *

A few minutes later, the two girls were galloping along the river, heading back for the castle as the light rapidly faded. Keegan's traveling bags and sleeping roll were strapped to the saddle and bounced along with the beat of Angus' hooves. Keegan herself clung desperately to Merida as they raced along.

Neither girl saw the wisps watching them in an unbroken line from the cover of the trees. Neither one heard the words each spoke as horse and riders passed by.

_Merida... Keegan...The time has come. _


	4. Chapter 3: Sleeping Arrangements

Chapter 3: Sleeping Arrangements

By the time horse and riders returned to the castle courtyard, night had fallen and the first few stars were glinting on the horizon.

Merida swung herself gracefully out of the saddle and slid to the ground. "Keegan, come on!" She called up to her, pulling her bow over her shoulder. Keegan slid off Angus' back and landed in an untidy heap on the ground.

"Keegan!" Merida ran to her and helped her up. "Are you alright? Is it your leg?"

Keegan stumbled until she found the support for the overhang and collapsed against it, breathing hard.

"Please don't make me do that again…" She wheezed, clinging to the wooden post like it was keeping her from being swept away by a river.

Merida stroked Angus absently as he nudged her hand. "Do what?" She asked the girl.

Keegan looked back towards Angus, fearfully. "I… I don't like horses…"

Angus tossed his head and whinnied loudly. Merida stroked his nose until he calmed down again. "Why not?"

Keegan pulled her feet up underneath her and stood up again, still keeping one hand on the post. "Just a… a bad memory…" She started slightly as Angus snorted and took a step towards her.

Merida smiled reassuringly. "Come on, Angus won't hurt you. He likes you."

Keegan looked skeptical but she didn't back away as Angus moved closer and nudged at her hand. Hesitantly, she opened her palm and let the horse nuzzle it. Angus sniffed her hand and blew air from his lips. Keegan smiled weakly.

Merida patted her horse's flank. "You were fine before, when we rode out to the cliffs." She recalled.

Keegan gently stroked Angus' nose. "I don't have an issue with horses…" She said. "it's just… I don't like ridin' them… they… they just move too fast for me… sometimes…"

She chuckled uneasily as the horse snorted and pushed harder against her hand.

A loud, high voice suddenly rang out across the courtyard. "There you are!" Merida winced. _How does he always do that?_

She turned around slowly, trying to fix a smile on her face and failing. "Lord Casey, what can I do for you?"

The tall man swooped down upon the girls like a hawk. "We were about to send out a search party for you!" He informed Merida, ignoring Keegan completely.

Merida smiled as pleasantly as she could muster. "Yes well, no need, I'm back now."

Lord Casey's hand twitched like he wanted to grab her by the arm but he kept himself restrained. "You're over seven hours late! Do you have any idea of the state your parents are in? What were you doing?"

Merida bit her lip to stop herself from shouting at him. Why did he always treat her like a child? "I'm sure they're even more concerned than you are. Keegan and I are goin' to see them now." She brushed past Lord Casey and began to walk towards the doors to the great hall. She had taken a dozen steps before she realized Keegan was not following her. "Keegan?" Merida turned back.

Keegan and Lord Casey stood less than a foot apart, staring intensely at each other as if trying to make the other back down. Lord Casey's eyes burned with dislike, Keegan's glowed with mistrust. "Keegan, come on…" Merida called uneasily.

Keegan bent slowly and picked up her bag of sorcery instruments where it had fallen off the saddle then walked around Lord Casey, the whole time never taking her eyes off him. It was only once she reached Merida's side that she turned away from him.

"What was that about?" Merida asked as they started walking. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lord Casey prowling behind them at a distance, his eyes still fixed obsessively on the black-haired girl.

Keegan didn't answer Merida but she anxiously twisted the gold ring around her finger.

* * *

Merida had barely stepped through the door when she was enveloped in the folds of her mother's dress. "Merida! We've been so worried!" Despite the surprise attack, Merida couldn't help falling against her and letting the events of the day catch up to her. She suddenly felt exhausted. And hungry. She had probably missed dinner…

"Told ya' she was fine!" Elinor released her and Merida caught a brief glimpse of her father King Fergus before her too scooped her up in a crushing embrace. "Where ya been lass? Not off romping with lads were you?"

Merida chortled and hugged her father back. "Nothing like that no… I was…"

"Merida!" The embracing pair was suddenly tackled by a tall red-haired lad hard enough to send even the king stumbling.

Hubert, the oldest of the triplets, hugged both his father and his sister with bone-crushing strength. "There you are! We were 'bout to tie Mum down so she wouldn't ride out lookin' for you!" Merida chuckled but said nothing.

"Hubert, I can't breathe…" Fergus said and the boy abruptly released them.

"Sorry dad." He said respectfully. He then turned to his sister and gave her a friendly punch on the arm. Even with the seven year age difference, Hubert was three inches taller than Merida and loved to take advantage of it. "Where'd you get to?" He asked her. "Even Harris lost you!"

"Mum sent me out to look for you." Merida turned to see Harris standing to the side, patiently waiting his turn to greet her. She walked forward and embraced him. Harris was the family tracker, there was very little he couldn't find or follow. He and Merida were about the same height right now but Merida knew that wouldn't last long.

"I followed your path to the river than across it to the stone circle." Harris told her as they broke apart. The queen walked to Merida's side and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as Harris continued to speak. "But once I got there, the trail seemed to… to vanish."

"The circles are ancient places of power. According to legend, all traces are wiped from that area as soon as the circle stands empty."

Everyone turned to the quiet voice. Keegan blushed visibly under the scrutiny from the edge of the shadowy column where she was half-hiding. "At least that's what the legends say…" She fiddled with the strap of her bag and avoided their gazes.

Elinor smiled kindly at the fidgeting girl. "Who's this then?" She asked Merida.

Merida walked back to Keegan and placed a comforting hand on her tense shoulder. It seemed only to make the girl more uncomfortable. She could feel the muscles there straining against her hand, as if to push her away. "Mum… Dad... Hubert, Harris. This is Keegan." The raven-haired girl smiled weakly and bowed as respectfully as she could but she was trembling slightly. Merida's hand left her shoulder briefly as the girl bowed but she put it right back as soon as Keegan straightened up, desperate to soothe her. "I met her in the woods." Merida explained, giving the shoulder under her hand a gentle, subtle rub. The muscles did not unclench. Keegan was staring hardly at the floor as if wishing the stones would swallow her. "She helped me fight off some bandits."

"Bandits?!"

Merida smiled at her mother's shock. She might believe her daughter to be as good a fighter as any man but the queen still worried. "It's alright mum, we chased them off. " She clarified then giggled, remembering the squirrel. "They won't be comin' back here for a long time."

"We?" Fergus raised an eyebrow as he looked Keegan over. Keegan kept her eyes on the floor.

Merida nodded and finally removed her hand from the other girl's shoulder. She stood proud. "Yes! Keegan's a…"

"A fine fighter your majesty." Keegan cut in quickly, bowing her head respectfully. "I've fought off many a man and creature with just my wits and my knives." Merida shot her a sideways glance but did not receive one in return. The girl continued to anxiously twist the strap of her bag around her hand, avoiding looking at Merida. After a second, Merida realized what she had almost done and felt a blush rising to her cheeks. Her hand left her side as if to take up its former position on Keegan's shoulder but something seemed to be stopping her this time. An unsettling feeling that she had no reason to touch the girl so familiarly.

"You?" Merida closed her eyes in aggravation and her hand dropped back to her side. She had almost, _almost_ forgotten Lord Casey was here.

The young Lord was standing just behind Keegan, his face half-hidden in shadow, watching her with those same hatred-filled eyes as before. "You? Fighting off full-grown men?"

Keegan whirled at the skeptical tone in his voice. "Yes, does my lord find that hard to believe?" Her words were respectful but it was hard not to miss the undercurrent of spite in her voice. She averted her gaze from his own.

He smirked at her. "Yes I do." His eyes traveled down and back up her body contemptuously. "For one, you're clearly not warrior stock, no fight in you, no spirit and for another, you don't strike me as the clever type."

Keegan's free hand twitched towards the knife Merida knew she kept tucked in the back of her belt, hidden under her shirt. But she didn't draw it.

"I know myself." She said, still trying to keep some semblance of politeness but gritting her teeth. "I know how to defend what matters to me."

Lord Casey scoffed. "Prove it then. Fight me."

"I don't fight on command." Keegan said in a low, dangerous voice, her eyes snapping up to meet his. "I'm not a trained dog for your entertainment."

The room was silent.

Merida could see a fire glowing in Keegan's strange eyes and risked a glance towards her parents. Her mother's eyebrows were raised, her father was oddly emotionless.

After a moment, Lord Casey backed away, his eyes fixed curiously on hers as he retreated.

Keegan looked back towards the king and queen and bowed once more. "Thank you for graciously lettin' me come here. But I'm afraid I must take my leave now." She rose and turned as if to make for the door but found her way blocked not only by Merida but by Lord Casey as well.

"It's already dark, you're not going anywhere tonight." Merida said as Keegan took a step backwards in surprise and shot another hard glance at the lord. Merida wished Keegan would look at her.

"You will stay for as long as you wish." The three turned to face the queen. She smiled down at Keegan and Merida thought she saw the girl flinch imperceptibly. "You will be welcomed as our guest."

Fergus turned to the queen. "Elinor…?" He began to protest but she turned to him with a huge smile on her face.

"Don't you agree Fergus? As Merida has just pointed out, we can't very well kick her out in the dark."

Her suggestion hung in the air as the monarchs stared at each other. Fergus inevitably caved. "Of course dear." He turned back to the trio and addressed Keegan for the first time Merida realized.

"We can find you a bed in the servant's quarters… someone go find Maudie…"

"Don't be ridiculous Fergus," Elinor interrupted, waving her hand. "the girls will share Merida's room, naturally."

"What?!" Both Keegan and Lord Casey spat this out at the same time then glared at each other.

"All our spare beds are full with the Council visiting." Elinor explained. "In addition, you defended our lands and our daughter from ruffians." The Queen said, looking down at Keegan but smiling proudly. "That means we are in your debt. So it would be rude to decline."

Keegan opened her mouth, paused, made a quiet noise of protest then closed her mouth and nodded. "Thank you my lady. I am very grateful." She bowed again and Merida tried not to jump up and down with glee. Keegan was going to stay!

"My Lady Queen," Lord Casey began and the smile melted off Merida's face. "I really must insist that…"

"A decision has been made." Elinor said, indicating the topic would no longer be discussed. Lord Casey's eyes flared but he bowed and left the room, shooting Keegan one final, hostile glance before the doors slammed behind him.

"Now… Keegan wasn't it?" The girl nodded to Elinor. "Do you have any travelin' bags or…?"

"Her things are out by Angus." Merida interrupted, taking Keegan's arm and pulling her towards the stairs.

The queen stopped them by raising her hand. Merida really wished that she could learn how to do that. "Boys, go get her things and bring them to your sister's room. Fergus, go inform the sentries and scouts to be on the lookout for bandits. Merida! A quick word." She knew that tone. She dropped Keegan's arm.

"I'll just be a moment, wait at the top of the stairs." Keegan nodded, still not looking at her. Merida ignored the way this gesture stung her and made her way to her mother's side as her father and brothers left the room.

"Mum I'm sorry about the Council Meeting, I swear I'll…"

Her mother gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll discuss that tomorrow, after you've had some food and some rest." Merida nodded, relieved she was not being punished. Yet. "I want to know what you were doing." The queen requested.

"Nothin' mum! Honestly! I went ridin', met Keegan, fought a pair of bandits and jus… lost track of time."

Her mother considered her a moment, then looked up to where the black-haired girl was climbing the stairs like walking up to a gallows.

"Where did you find her?"

Merida hesitated slightly before answering. "She was in the woods, all on her own. She's… she's lookin' for her brother."

The queen smiled sympathetically. "Well, we'll have to see if we can't help her find him, won't we?"

Merida beamed and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes mum. Goodnight!" She gave her mother a fleeting kiss on the cheek and dashed away before anything else could be said.

She was at the top of the stairs a few breathless seconds later, practically running Keegan over as she skidded to a halt at the top.

"I'm sorry…" They both said, then paused and looked each other right in the eye.

"Wait, why are you sorry?" Merida asked, beginning to walk down the hallway but without taking her eyes from the golden orbs.

Keegan however, broke the contact to examine the floor again. "For… the way I acted down there… and for causing so much trouble."

They passed the tapestry room. "What? There's no trouble. Lord Casey just likes to make a scene."

"But your father…"

Merida waved her hand. "He's fine. He's just a little slow sometimes."

"He doesn't like me." Keegan said flatly and Merida stopped walking so abruptly that Keegan walked into her.

"What? No! No! Why would you think that?" She exclaimed as the girl backed away from her, anxiously and futility brushing her short hair behind her ear.  
"I can tell." Keegan said, tightening her grip on her bag again. "He suspects what I am. He doesn't like it."

"Keegan…" Merida said softly, her regret rising in her again. "I'm so sorry… I jus assumed that because you told me…"

Keegan turned to her, and Merida was relieved to see her eyes bore no resentment or anger, only sadness. "Don't worry. It's just not something I usually share with most people. I'm used too… well, more often than not, they react similarly to your father." She sighed and looked down at the golden ring on her finger. "That was why Cennwe never told anyone. She hated the fear people bore her because of it."

As if they had agreed to, the girls started walking again. "So why share with me?" Merida asked gently.

Keegan looked a little lost for words. "I… uh… I… you remind me of someone… someone I like and... and trust."

They had reached Merida's room. She pulled open the door and led the way inside.

Merida's chambers hadn't changed much over the last few years. The biggest difference was the small pile of books she kept on the floor by her night table and her latest sewing attempt (an embroidered pillowcase) laying on the end of her bed.

Merida quickly swept the pile of untidy stitches and lumpy fabric onto the floor and kicked it under her bed before Keegan could see it.

"So this is it." She said, turning back to her guest. "My chambers."

Keegan didn't appear to be listening. She was standing at the foot of Merida's bed, staring up at the bedpost marked with the notches of Merida's sword. She tilted her head to one side, examining it.

"What is this?" She asked.

Merida placed her bow and quiver in their coveted spot at the foot of her bed before walking to Keegan's side and gazing up at the bedpost. She remembered well all those times her sword had made contact with that wood. "I used to hit tha' with my sword when I was havin' a bad day." She confessed sheepishly.

Keegan examined the wood with an air of familiarity, showing no judgment of Merida for her confession. "Not so much anymore, I'm guessin'." She gently ran one hand down the marred bedpost. "This is fine wood… tough, resilient… I could do something with this… if you like…"

Merida beamed. "Yeah! I'd… I'd like that!"

Keegan glanced at her and smiled. "It would be my pleasure…" Her golden eyes flashed and Merida drew a deep breath. The flash was so familiar, just like that triumphant one Keegan's brother had given her when he had planted that gentle kiss on her hand. Merida's stomach filled with fiery butterflies as she remembered that moment and she had to look away from the girl to remember how to breathe again. She focused on the memory of dancing with Keegan's brother. The way his hand had fit perfectly in her own. His soft, compelling voice. The way the world had faded away as they danced…

The thought was so calming, like she was returning to that very moment.

"Ahhhaa!" Merida turned back to the voice.

Keegan's eyes had drifted to Merida's nightstand where her favorite woodcarving sat. It was one of the ones she'd purchased from the witch: a carving of a bear, standing on its hind legs, paws clasped delicately in front of it. Merida had kept it next to her head ever since it had arrived. She had just liked it, it reminded her of how her mum had looked as a bear. And the bear's dark, gentle eyes gave her the impression that it was watching over her. Keegan crouched down next to it. "Elm… carved with the grain of the wood…" She observed, her golden eyes tracing every surface as if they could see every detail. "This was one of my brother's…"

"What's his name?" Merida finally asked, the fire in her stomach flaring again in anticipation.

"Hayden." Keegan replied offhandedly, fingering the bear's snout. Merida was silent as she turned the name over in her head. It was a nice name, certainly but all together, very ordinary, even dull. She'd been expecting something a little more… well, different. _Hayden._

Keegan was still examining the bear, running her hands across the folded paws. Her eyes were lit up in that compelling, familiar way. "There's something I want to ask you." Merida said quite suddenly.

The raven-haired girl jumped a bit as if she had been lost in thought. "What?" She asked, snatching her hand away from the carving like she had been committing some offensive act.

"If you and your brother lived with the witch all your life, how come I didn't see you when I met her?"

Keegan stood and looked down at the bear sitting on the table. "You were the one who bought _all_ our carvings correct?"

Merida nodded. "Yes, they're all hidin' around the castle somewhere…" She chuckled. "Give Maudie a right old fright every time."

Keegan tapped her chin. "Well let me see… that would have been about two years ago… fall time…?" Merida nodded. Keegan thought for a moment before her face lit up in realization. "Ahh yes! That was the Stonewick festival! Cennwe was in rather a hurry to leave that year…" She paused as if remembering that time and suddenly seeing it in a new light. "She had sent me to the Fire Falls that morning to gather fireweed fed by their mist. Very powerful leaves… used to ease transformations. It took me the whole day to climb up and down the cliffs pickin' them! When I returned, it was sunset and the cottage was dark. Cennwe wasn't there, she'd left the standard customer greeting and a message for me as well."

Keegan pulled her bag of sorcery instruments off her shoulder and placed it gently on the floor next to the chest at the end of Merida's bed. She crouched next to it and began to dig through it as if counting her items.

"Wait, you were there, right at sunset?" Merida's memory of that day in particular was much sharper than that of any other.  
Keegan screwed up her eyes as she tried to look back. "Yes." She finally said. She looked up at Merida. "Why?"

Merida's heart was racing in realization. "I came back… with my mum… only a few hours after I left to try to get her to undo the spell…" They had left the castle just after sunset and made their way through the forest to the cottage. They couldn't have found it less than an hour after night had fallen. She turned back to Keegan. "Why didn't I see you?"

Keegan pulled the knife out of the back of her belt and stroked the blade lightly. "Was the cottage still there when you arrived?" She asked.

"Yes."

Keegan placed the knife delicately on top of her satchel. "I must have just left…" She shot Merida a glance. "Did you pour the fifth vial into the cauldron?"

Merida recalled the unhelpful cauldron greeting and her frantic attempts to bring the witch's head back. "Probably." She admitted.

Keegan clenched her teeth. "If there's one thing Cennwe likes more than bears and shiny trinkets, its teaching you lessons through even the littlest of mistakes." She muttered darkly.

"What?"

Keegan glanced up, her dark expression melting away. "Oh, not you! Me. The fifth vial was the message to me about why she'd left so suddenly. Only I had to drink it instead of pourin' it in the cauldron."

"Why?"

Keegan grimaced. "Let's just say, Cennwe enjoys makin' mistakes memorable through explosions." She rubbed her forehead. "I've lost my eyebrows more than once that way…"

Merida wondered exactly how many times. "What about your brother… Hayden?"

"He was still there with her… far as I know." She shrugged. "You probably just didn't see him. Or he wandered off… he tends to do that." Her gaze softened. "He does that a lot actually…". She rubbed her thumb against the ring on her finger.

"I'm sorry." Merida said both for the behavior and the destruction of the cabin.

Keegan smiled at her. "It wasn't your fault! Besides, that place exploded many more times and much more violently when we were casting spells." Her smile fell slightly. "I think Cennwe kind of enjoyed it actually..."

She suddenly chuckled, a smile tugging at her lips.

"What?" Merida asked, giggling a little in spite of herself. Keegan's laugh was light and contagious. "What is it?"

"Nothin'." Keegan shook her head but the smile remained. "I was just thinkin'… we came so close to meetin'…" She looked over at Merida, her eyes soft. "Why didn't we?"

There was a knock on the door and Harris stuck his head in.

"We got her things." He told his sister.

"No, I've got her things…" Hubert's disembodied voice snapped from behind him. "You're just holdin' me up."

Harris rolled his eyes and stepped inside to let his older triplet squeeze inside with his armful of Keegan's belongings.

"What do you have in here?" Hubert asked as he tossed the bag and sleeping roll onto the floor. "Bricks?"

"Wood." Keegan replied. Harris chuckled but stifled it as Hubert glared at him.

"You wouldn't be laughing if you'd carried it up three flights of stairs…" He growled then stomped past his brother out of the room.

Harris shrugged at the girls and began to follow but paused halfway out the door.

"Oh, mum says to tell you that there's another Council meetin' tomorrow bright and early. And she expects to see both of you there."

Keegan's eyes widened. "Both of us?"

Harris nodded. "We're supposed to be there too apparently."

Merida frowned. Her brothers almost never sat in on the meetings. "Why?"

Harris shrugged. "No idea, I expect we'll find out."

Merida turned to Keegan again as the door closed behind Harris. "Well I guess this is as good a time as any to turn in. We'll have to be up early for the meetin' tomorrow."

She walked to her wardrobe and pulled out her nightgown. After a second's hesitation, she turned back to Keegan.

"Do you… want to borrow nightgown or… or…"

Keegan shook her head rather violently as she looked at the silky garment in Merida's hand. "I'll sleep in these," She said, indicating the pants and shirt she was still wearing. "it'll be fine."

Merida turned her back and slipped out of her dress, letting it fall to the floor around her ankles. She quickly pulled the nightgown over her head and turned back around.

Keegan was unrolling her sleeping pad on the cold stone floor.

"What are you doing?" Merida asked as she walked back to her bed.

"I'm going to sleep." Keegan replied, readying her larger bag to serve as a pillow.

Merida slid under the covers that had been pressed and warmed and suddenly felt much too large.

"Well, come on then, get up here."

Keegan looked sharply from Merida to the bed and back again. "With you?"

Merida nodded slowly. "Yes."

Keegan made a strange, jerking movement with her right hand. "Thank you but I think I'll just spread out my sleeping roll here on the floor."

"Don't be ridiculous. There's plenty of room."

Keegan looked torn.

"Come on." Merida said, patting the bed beside her. "It's warmer up here."

Slowly, as if afraid of being rejected, Keegan slid in next to her.

Merida smiled then rolled over and curled up. There was a pleasant warmth emanating from the girl at her side. She hadn't shared a bed with anyone since she'd slept with her parents as a child. The familiarity of this new arrangement was… satisfying. Like finding something she hadn't realized she was missing. "Night!" She called.

For a moment, no sound came from the other side of the bed. "Night… Merida."

* * *

As Merida slowly drifted off to more dreams of ravens and flying and dancing and golden eyes, Keegan lay wide awake, staring at the ceiling, breathing as quietly as possible. The clan ring around her finger and the necklace resting on her chest had never felt so heavy and so cold.

* * *

Queen Elinor was brushing her long hair out in front of the mirror. It was a task she took pride and comfort in and a time well treasured for reflecting on the events of the day. Tonight in particular, she had a lot to think about. She carefully smoothed the long tress in her hand, then let it fall against the bosom of her nightgown. Her daughter had missed a Council meeting. An important Council meeting that Merida had actually been excited to attend. And all for a girl she'd met in the woods who couldn't find her brother.

Fergus entered the chamber, his face like a storm cloud. Elinor saw this in the mirror and put down her brush, all thoughts of Keegan temporarily vanishing from her mind.

"What's wrong dear?" She asked without turning around.

"Nothin's wrong." He muttered quietly, bending down to take off his boot.

She knew him better than that. "You're upset about the girl." She said, still facing the mirror. She knew this moment was coming but she dreaded it all the same.

His reflection looked up at her sharply. "Yes, I am. Why would you let her stay, demand that she stay?"

Elinor sat completely still. On the rare occurrences when the king lost his temper, even Elinor's iron reserve could not stand up to him. "Fergus, she defended our daughter." She began, treading carefully.

Fergus chortled and Elinor relaxed somewhat. "Merida doesn't need defending…" Her husband reassured her, returning to his boot.

"No one is untouchable Fergus." She sighed and looked mournfully at her husband's wooden leg. "Not even you. Merida is strong but she is not invulnerable."

The king stood to remove his bear fur cape. "Merida does just fine." He said proudly, hanging the skin carefully on its hook. "She's proven herself over and over to be a fine, strong lass."

Elinor knew this better than anyone. But that didn't stop her from worrying. Every time Merida rode off into the woods by herself, the perilous thoughts so common in the past returned to haunt her. Today when Merida hadn't turned up on time, her dark, worrisome thoughts had consumed her mind in a spinning whirlpool until she felt like she was drowning in uncertainty and concern. "Everyone needs someone to watch their back Fergus." Elinor protested, picking up her brush again so that her hands would be busy. "She can't be alone all her life."

The king had been bent over the trunk at the end of their bed. At her words however, he straightened up rather suddenly. "She's not alone, she has us!"

"What about when we're gone?" Elinor asked softly.

Fergus walked up behind her and gently placed his large hands on her shoulders. "What's this about now?" His voice was comforting and low.

The Queen sighed and gazed at her own reflection. There were lines under her eyes that had not been there two years ago after the bear spell had broken. The gray stripe through her hair was expanding every year as if counting away the remaining days of her youth. The days she still had left.

Elinor hid her inhibitions under her regal face and turned to face her husband. "Think about it Fergus, how many friends does Merida have outside of the family?"

Fergus stared at her briefly, then raised on hand and scratched his head. "Well… um…"

Elinor smiled grimly, knowing he wouldn't have an answer. "She only gets to see the clans once a year if she's lucky. And there aren't many children her own age, all her potential suitors are at least a year older than her. She's got no one her own age. Maybe this girl will… help her branch out. Once she takes the throne, she's going to need all the help she can get. Friends, allies, supporters!" She paused and took a deep breath. "Because I know all the clans are not particularly pleased about having a warrior queen."

"What do you mean lass?" Fergus cried, jumping back a little.

Elinor sighed and put down her hairbrush again. "Fergus. The whole kingdom and beyond knows that she is the best archer. And you've taught her a fair amount of swordplay as well. Might as well just name her a warrior and get it over with."

"I never meant for her…"

"I know you never meant for her to be a warrior," Elinor interrupted. "but face it. Our daughter has grown up prepared to lead an army. Or rather, prepared to fight an army. And I don't want her to have no supports if that army comes."

The king and queen stared at each other in silence for awhile.

After awhile, Fergus spoke. "So you're suggesting we let a complete stranger, a known outsider into our house, our home, our kingdom? All to protect our daughter?"

Elinor said nothing. But her conviction was all there in her expression.

"You really think that girl is going to make any difference?" Fergus asked. "Look at her! As Lord Casey pointed out, she's not exactly prime material."

Elinor smiled. "I know. But Merida likes her. She trusts her."

"I don't." The king said flatly.

Even though she had been expecting this, Elinor couldn't help being surprised and just a little scared by the bitterness and anger in the king's expression. "And why not?" She asked, standing up from her vanity as if to challenge her husband. She just barely came up to his shoulder. "Just look how taken Merida is with her already."

If possible, Fergus' expression darkened further. "Exactly. A little too taken if you ask me. They seem quite familiar with each other. And Merida claims they only just met today."

"So?"

The king made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "So, I don't like it. This girl wanders in from nowhere and Merida treats her like her favorite cousin returned from a voyage on the high seas!"

"Fergus…"

The king was pacing now. "And how she dresses! What are you supposed to make of that? She looks like a thief! "

Elinor considered the accusation. "Not necessarily…"

Fergus rubbed his hands together violently. "Something's not right with that child! Something in her eyes…" He shook his head as if he couldn't quite put it into words. "I can sense it. She's… cunning…"

At this, Elinor's maternal defenses flared up. She crossed her arms. "You know our daughter. Merida is quite welcoming, especially to those who are different."

The king stopped pacing and looked at his wife. Elinor squared her shoulders and marched right up to him.

"She's not stupid, Fergus. She won't let her fondness towards this girl get in the way of her judgment. Merida has a heart of iron and a mind sharper than her sword."

Fergus smiled. "Aye. She'll make a great queen one day!"

The silence returned. Elinor knew that, even though he might not be fully aware of it, the king worried about his fading days as well and what that would mean for his young, spirited daughter.

"Let her stay." The Queen implored, no longer referring to her daughter.

"But Elinor…" Fergus was still resistant; she could see the little vein in his temple that throbbed whenever he felt pressured.

"We'll watch her." Elinor reassured him, placing her hand on his arm. "We'll be careful and I'll speak to Merida about it. If it comes to it, we can move the girls into separate rooms or find an excuse to send Keegan away. Will that be sufficient my king?"

Fergus smiled and leaned down to kiss his wife. "Yes dear."

Elinor couldn't help smiling back and deepening the kiss momentarily, their lips lingering together long enough to cause both of them to relax completely. "But please try to keep her around." Elinor requested as they broke apart. "I don't want to see Merida lose her only friend."

Fergus smiled but she could still sense his uneasiness. Elinor considered herself a good judge of people and people's intentions seeing as she constantly dealt with the Council and their multitude of requests and demands.

She knew what she'd seen when she looked at Keegan.

They climbed into bed, Elinor sinking eagerly into the warm cushion of her husband's arms. As Fergus blew out the light and pulled the blankets up around their shoulders, Elinor's mind drifted back to the moment she had met the strange girl with the lad's name. There was courage there and fire; she could see why her daughter was immediately drawn to this girl. Despite her obvious fear at being in the castle and among so many powerful people, Keegan had kept her wits about her and bravely stood on her own. She had been respectful to Lord Casey even as he insulted her, a sign of respect and integrity. But there was something else there too. Something Elinor still could not entirely be sure of. A deep sadness that shone from those strange eyes. A longing and hollow kind of fear. The kind of sadness and loneliness that one was only burdened with in one way.

Fergus' voice interrupted her musings. "You really think she's harmless?"

Elinor hit him affectionately in the chest, smiling as his chest rumbled with his sleepy laughter. "Fergus, she's one person. She can't be that much of a threat."

* * *

Lord Casey sat alone in the complete darkness of his chambers. His rooms at the base of the castle's guest wing had no natural lighting. They were quite drafty though. Not that he minded. He was used to the cold. He preferred it to sweating. Sweating made it harder to think. And he had something very important going around his mind at this particular moment. He needed to be cold. Ice cold.

He took a swig of the ale in his hand. Like always, he tasted nothing as it ran down his throat.

Keegan's face drifted through his mind and he stiffened, trying as hard as he could to figure out why she was so familiar. Why he got the strong sense that she should be nowhere near the Dunbroch princess. Why whenever he saw her, everything inside him clenched like he wanted to rip her raven-haired head from her strong shoulders…

His tankard trembled in his iron grip. Something was not right about that girl. The king could see it too, he could tell. And he, Lord Evan Casey was going to find out what.

* * *

A.N.: I'm taking a little artistic liberty with the triplets here since I don't believe their birth order, age or interests (other than cake and mischief) were mentioned in the movie. Hubert is the oldest, Harris the youngest and Hamish the middle of the three. At this point in the story they are about 11 years old. Merida and Keegan are 18.


	5. Chapter 4: Dreams

A/N: Sorry for taking so long! Please know that even though it might take me forever to update, I have not given up on this story. :)

* * *

Chapter 4: Dreams

_She was stumbling along, her feet catching on roots and her toes being bruised by stones. Why was it so dark? Why were they going so fast?_

_Her foot caught on a root and pain shot through her. She cried out pitifully._

_Brother was there… urging her along, tugging on her hand. "Come on Keegan!"_

"_Where are we goin', Hayden?"_

"_Shut it! Just keep moving!"_

_She didn't want to keep running. She wanted to go back to her nice warm bed nestled between the family hound and her father's rumbling snores._

_But on they trudged, through the darkness and the cold, brother pulling on her arm so hard it hurt. She wished someone would carry her. Mum would always carry her when she got tired. _

"_Where's mum?"_

_Brother whirled around and slapped her. Tears stung her eyes as she clutched her cheek with both hands._

"_Mum's gone." Brother snapped. " Don't you get it? They're all gone. Da was right, they were coming for us…"_

"_Who was?"_

_Brother didn't answer, he just grabbed her hand again and dragged her on through the darkness and the cold and the screams of the night._

_A stone met her ankle. She tripped and cried out as she fell to the hard ground._

_Brother hauled her back to her feet. "Come on! We need to run."_

_Tears were falling freely now. She didn't want to play this game anymore. She planted her feet in the dirt. "I'm tired! I can' run anymore!"_

_He dropped her hand as if burned. "If you can't keep up, I'm not waiting for you!" Brother snarled._

_She reached for his hand but he pulled away in disgust. "Brother!" _

_She sniffled. Why was he acting this way?_

_He turned his back and began to run. He didn't get far._

_The shadow loomed out of the darkness, hooves flashing in the pale moonlight, shining blade glinting overhead. At the same time, a second shadow blotted out her own, a second pair of hooves cut the air, a second blade began whistling down._

_Her hands flew out in front of her. She screamed. Her hands turned to fire. And everything went white._

* * *

Merida awoke slowly but her heart was racing and her breath was coming fast. Her hands and her eyes burned and itched uncontrollably. She had felt like this before…

"Keegan?"

She rolled over but the spot next to her was empty. The sight sent an unprecedented shock through her and she sat upright.

"Keegan?"

"Down here."

Merida crawled to the end of her bed and peered over the edge. The now-familiar golden eyes met her own blue ones.

Keegan grinned at her. "Mornin'" There was a tiny chip of wood clinging to the end of her nose.

Merida smiled back and rubbed her eyes. "What're you doin'?" She asked.

Keegan held up a knife and a length of wood with several notch marks in it. "Workin'. I've had this idea for awhile but hadn't gotten a chance to complete it."

Merida swung her legs over the edge of her bed and slid down to sit beside Keegan on the floor. "What is it?"

Keegan shuffled away from her slightly and attacked the wood with her blade. The knife bit into the wood and a few choice bits tumbled into the girl's lap.

"I can' tell you tha, bad luck."

"Bad luck?" Merida asked, scooting closer slightly to get a better look at the carving.

"A little bit of me goes into every carving." Keegan explained, brushing sawdust and flakes away from the parts she had just cut. "I can't tell anyone what to expect of the carving is until it's finished or else it will absorb the wrong part of me." She blew gently on the rough edges of the carving to remove the miniscule particles of sawdust left behind.

"Is this another odd sorcery rule?" Merida asked, stretching out her hand to feel the rough edges of the carving.

Keegan snatched the carving away from Merida's fingers. "No." She told Merida with a sly smile. "This is a wood-carvers rule."

"So you don't want me to know what it is yet?"

Keegan shook her head. "Nope."

"Is it a bear?"

Keegan hesitated. "Maybe."

Merida grinned in triumph. "It is, isn't it?"

"You don't know that!"

"I don't need to know that!"

"Look, just because Cennwe had a bear obsession doesn' mean I have one!" Keegan protested as Merida laughed. "I happen to like carvin' bears, and deer and ravens. Now if you're going to watch, you're going to have to be silent."

Merida nodded, stifling another fit of giggles. Keegan watched her suspiciously for a moment then slowly returned to her work. Merida watched with intrigue as slowly and with delicate precision, Keegan's blade wicked away flakes of wood. A small one here, a large, jagged one there. Slowly, the wood began to have form. The semblance of a paw began to emerge from the grain. The feet became visible. Merida found she couldn't take her eyes off of Keegan's working hands. She was sure that woodcarving of that caliber had some kind of magic involved in it. But she could see no evidence of any being used. Just the witch's fingers and her knife.

As Keegan turned her blade to begin shaping what Merida assumed to be the carving's head, she caught sight of the ring on the girl's hand.

"What's that ring?"

To her surprise, the wood-carver froze at her inquiry. Keegan gently laid down the carving and her knife before holding out her hand so Merida could examine the ring.

It was just like the clan ring of Dunbroch her father always wore: the thick, hammered piece of iron that bore the sword of their clan. Only Keegan's was made of pure gold. And the symbol stamped on it wasn't a sword. It was a tree, being licked by a thick curtain of flame.

"This is my clan symbol." Keegan explained. She held the ring up so that it caught the light. The fire engraving seemed to move as it was stuck by the sun. "We are the magical fire that engulfs the tree without consuming it. We are the sorcerers that are forever tied to the land. It is a sign not only of my family's power but our humility as well. We do not destroy that which we protect."

Transfixed, Merida held out her hand. "Can I…?"

Keegan nodded but instead of removing the ring, allowed Merida to grasp her hand so as to examine it more closely. The gold was chilly against her skin but throbbed with something. Something Merida could not describe. The family crest beckoned her closer. It moved without moving. Merida stroked the carved symbol with her thumb. A flaming tree…

A loud knock on the door startled both girls.

"Merida? Are you up yet?" Harris called from the other side of the door. "Mum sent me to make sure you remember to come to the meetin' today!"

"We're comin'!" Merida called back. "Jus' give us a minute!" She stood up and walked to the wardrobe. "We'd better get dressed, mum likes me to wear my finest whenever we have these meetings." Merida pulled free a blue dress for herself and turned back to Keegan. "What are you doing?"

Keegan looked up from where she was strapping two knives to her inner arms with leather holsters. "I never go anywhere without my knives. They are my life."

"You won't need those." Merida told her as she stripped off her nightgown and slid the blue dress over her head.

Keegan did not reply but tightened the strap around her arm with intense focus.

"Do you want to borrow one of my dresses?" Merida asked.

Keegan smiled gratefully. "That would be great actually…" She stood and walked to the wardrobe. "I spent most of my life in pants. Most of the dresses I had I outgrew long ago." She examined the inside of the wardrobe. "Do you have anythin' black?"

"Down that end." Merida said, pointing to the corner of her wardrobe as she straightened her dress out.

She turned around and was greeted by a long red scar running from the back of Keegan's neck across to her right shoulder. Keegan tossed her shirt aside and caught Merida's eye over her shoulder.

"My brother gave me that one." She told her, shrugging her right shoulder so the scar twisted and writhed like an angry red snake. "We were fighting and he pulled his knife on me. I nearly died…"

Merida stretched out her hand and gently traced the scar with a finger. The skin under her hand was hard and hot, almost as if the scar wasn't too old. "How did you survive?"

Keegan's back was stiff under her hand. "Cennwe saved my life. Nursed me back to health." She laughed quietly. "Third time she's done tha'…" She shrugged Merida's hand off and went back to looking through the dresses.

The dress the girls found for the sorceress was the long black one with embroidered sleeves and a slight v-neck that Merida had only worn to a funeral a few years back. The dress was a little tight on Keegan's shoulders and stopped just above her ankles but other than that it was a perfect fit. Keegan adjusted the sleeves covering her knife holsters.

"Well? How do I look?" She asked.

Truthfully, she looked wonderful. Merida had never been able to pull off black, preferring instead to clothe herself in the rich forest greens and sky blues that were her true home.

Keegan embodied black.

"You look great." Merida told her. A poor choice of words. Great did not ever begin to cover it. "We'd better go."

They had barely taken two steps outside of Merida's chambers however, before Hamish came barreling down the stairs from the upper level, yanking on a tunic with one hand and hastily combing his curls with the other.

"Fell asleep in the tower…" He gasped, skidding to a halt next to Merida as he struggled to turn his shirt around. "Only jus' woke up. What'd I miss yesterday?"

Merida frowned. "Where where you last night? Weren't you worried when I was missin'?"

"I jus told you." Hamish said impatiently. "In the tower. Hubert jus' ran up lookin' for me an' told me about the meetin'! You were missing?"

"Yes." Merida said slowly, teasingly. "So sorry it did not register with the genius scholar."

Hamish held out his hands in surrender. "Sorry, I really didn't notice! I was in the tower all day! I finally found that book of verse I told you about, remember, the rare-Anglo piece Lord MacGuffin lent us awhile back…" He trailed off, having caught sight of Keegan. Hamish smiled pleasantly. "Hello. Who are you?"

Keegan was looking from Hamish to Merida and back again. "How many of you are there?" She asked Hamish after a moment of silence.

Merida chuckled. "Three. Don't worry, half of us can't even tell them apart."

Keegan's face contorted briefly. "Triplets…" She whispered. She said nothing else and her face remained blank as the three made their way down the stairs back into the Great Hall for the meeting.

* * *

"What about… him?"

"No, not really…"

"You sure?"

Elinor considered shushing the girls but she was both amused and intrigued by the exchange currently going on to her right.

The meeting had yet to start, the lords of the Council were still taking their seats, arguing good-naturedly among themselves and placing their weapons on the table in front of them, as was custom. Elinor herself had taken to carrying a dagger ever since her time under the witch's spell. It now rested on the table in front of her, its handle pointed towards her.

To her left sat Fergus, regally repositioning his sword so that all could see how large it was and how easily within reach.

On her right were her daughter and the strange raven-haired girl she had befriended. They were watching the lords and lads squabbling over seats and discussing which were the most handsome.

Well, Merida talked about the lads, Keegan just sat there looking downtrodden.

"Welcome my Lords!" Elinor said several minutes later as way of opening the Council meeting. "I appreciate all of you making this journey, especially now as autumn is well on its way."

"Yesterday's meeting was very productive despite the setbacks." Elinor didn't look over but still saw her daughter smile sheepishly and slide down slightly in her seat. "Today's will not be quite as tedious, more just a recap of yesterday and a few concerns that have recently been brought to our attention."

"What concerns?" Lord McIntosh interrupted.

Elinor tried not to sigh. There really ought to be more women on councils. The men were far too quick to speak up and far too eager to interrupt her.

"It was brought to our attention yesterday that bandits were spotted easily within range of the castle..." Elinor began.

The hall broke into private murmurings and incredulous shouts. "Bandits? This close to our lands?"

"There have never been bandits in these areas before! They must be foreigners!"

"They must have a nest somewhere…"

"PIPE DOWN!"

The hall fell silent at the king's bellowed command.

Elinor inclined her head. "Thank you Fergus." He grinned at her and settled back in his chair again. "As I was saying, bandits were spotted but only two of them as I understand it."

"Where there's one bandit, there's usually more." Lord Dingwall said straightening his kilt. "We need to send out scouts and border patrols immediately. We can't let this land become a nest for dishonest men and poachers."

"There's no need for such rash action my lord." Elinor told him, allowing herself a small smile. "There is someone among us who knows about the forests and the borders."

Fergus turned to her in confusion. "Really? Who?"

"Aye, where is he?" Lord MacGuffin called. "Get him in here to speak!"

Elinor smiled. "Well I'm glad you asked, _she's_ here with us today." Elinor turned to Keegan who looked absolutely terrified. She smiled encouragingly at the lass and beckoned her to stand.

Keegan appeared unable to move until Merida's gentle hand cupped her shoulder and the princess smiled her encouragement. The raven-haired girl shakily rose to her feet, using the table before her for balance. Lord McIntosh towered a head and a half over her. The difference in their height was apparent even at the distance they stood apart.

Elinor watched intently. Normally, she'd have had Merida give the report before the Council as practice. But today was different. It was her chance to get to see if this Keegan was everything Elinor wanted her to be.

"You have knowledge of the condition of the borders?" McIntosh asked the girl.

Keegan bowed her head respectively. "Yes sir, I crossed them but only two weeks ago."

MacGuffin and Dingwall rose to their feet, glared at each other briefly than faced the girl.

"And who are ye that we should trust you enough to be here?" MacGuffin asked.

Merida made a move to stand but Elinor caught her eye and subtly shook her head.

Keegan was left alone addressing the Council.

Elinor watched the young woman with bated breath. She felt terrible abandoning the girl to the Council's wrath like this but it was the only way she could be certain.

Elinor could see the poor girl trembling but desperately trying to calm herself. Her eyes roamed the seated lords and ladies as if searching for someone to defend her. When no one appeared, she took a deep breath. Elinor noticed her twisting her ring around until the outer portion was pressing into her palm.

"I am Keegan McEaneny." The raven-haired girl said in a strong, commanding voice that rang from the rafters and shocked even Elinor. Dingwall, McIntosh and MacGuffin all stepped back in surprise. "And I can assure you, my lords that I wish no harm on you or your kingdom."

Fergus fingered the hilt of his sword. "I am not familiar with this clan." He said.

Keegan turned slightly so as to address him directly. "Our ancestral homeland is beyond your borders your Majesty." Her hand went to her breast and rested just over her heart. "But I was raised in the forests of Dunbroch."

The king's brow furrowed. "Where is your homeland?" He asked.

"To the far west, my lord about a month's journey by foot from your castle." Keegan replied.

"But where exactly is it?" Fergus asked, the vein in his forehead starting to throb.

Keegan ducked her head. "I… cannot say your majesty."

"You what?!"

"I know not its name sire." Keegan said in a timid voice.

"You don't know the name of your own homeland?"

Keegan's head raised slightly but she did not make eye contact with Fergus. "I was not raised there sire. When I was a wee lass of four my family was attacked by bandits while on a pilgrimage to your land. My brother and I escaped and crossed the land until we came upon a festival of gypsies and artisans. There, an old woman took pity on us and brought us back here to the land of Dunbroch and raised us as her own."

The murmurs of the lords drifted up to the dais from the tables below. Fergus silenced them by clearing his throat loudly. "Where is she now?" He asked the raven-haired girl.

"I know not." Keegan replied. "She travels a lot now that we're grown."

"And this brother of yours? What of him?"

"I came here lookin' for him sir." Keegan said, brushing her hair back with one hand. "But he's not easy to find."

There was the sound of a scoff from a distant table. "Awfully convenient."

Keegan and Fergus both turned to the voice but it was Elinor that answered it. "What is?" She asked, glad she had finally stepped in to the girl's defense.

Lord Casey rose to his feet and raised his voice so that all could hear him from his position near the back of the room. He addressed Keegan as if she were his servant.

"You have a family but they're all dead or missing. You have a guardian but she's 'traveling'. You have a brother but he's gone. No one to verify your story."

"Verify, my lord?" Keegan's voice was polite but controlled. Merida was halfway out of her seat, ready to spring to Keegan's side if necessary.

Lord Casey smirked. "I think you're lying. I think you're a spy yourself."

Keegan stiffened and seemed to blaze with a sudden flare of anger. "You think I lie?" The raven-hair hissed, her voice smothering and silencing the confused mutterings of the seated lords. She thrust the ring forward. "Here is my family crest! It is all I have left of the family I barely remember. I would no more lie about that then I would set fire to the forest."

The entire hall fell silent. Keegan lowered herself back into her seat, her chest rising and falling quickly.

"We have no reason not to trust her, Lord Casey." Elinor said, turning to the still standing lord. "You have already made your sentiments on the matter quite clear. She will stay as long as she wants or until you can bring evidence against her integrity."

Lord Casey bowed stiffly and lowered himself back into his seat, glowering at Keegan.

Elinor took a discrete calming breath. That had gone well. "We seem to have gotten a little off topic, Keegan tell us, do you have any knowledge of a nest near here?"

Keegan shook her head.

"Did you encounter any bandits on your journey from the boarder?"

Another shake. Keegan refused to speak.

Elinor continued the meeting, discussing with the Lords the harvest, plans for patrols and the plans for the Games the following spring. She made a point to subtly glance over at the raven-girl several times. More than once, she caught her daughter's hand gently patting Keegan's and the strange girl offering a grateful smile in return.

* * *

It was a relief to finally be free of the meeting. Merida and Keegan wandered the corridors of the castle to stretch their legs after the long time sitting. Merida would have preferred to go for a ride or even just a walk out to the forest but it was nearing sunset. And she knew her parents still had not quite forgiven her for her absence yesterday.

"It's too late to go into the forest." She told Keegan as they made their way down the corridor in an effort to make the girl say something. _Anything._ She had been silent since her outburst at the meeting. "But I can show you around, or we can go to the library…"

"No thanks." Keegan said bitterly.

"Oh good because I don't really like the library." Merida said, picking up her skirts so she could match Keegan's strong strides. "That's where mum tutors me." Keegan was still stalking down the hall. Merida jogged slightly to catch up. "Did… did the witch have a library to teach you in…?"

"I can' read." Keegan said flatly. Merida said nothing. "Cennwe had no books." Keegan explained, her voice softening slightly. "Everything we learned was through practice and trial and error." She sighed. "I've always wondered what it's like though…"

"Well I can teach you."

Keegan stopped cold. Merida was walking so quickly she ended up three paces in front of her before stumbling to a stop and turning to face her.

"You'd do that?" Keegan asked. "Really?"

Merida nodded. "I'll teach you. It's easy."

Keegan's face split into a smile. "I'd love that. Thank you."

Merida grinned, a small bubble of happiness rising in her chest. "My pleasure, it'll be our secret."

"Raven-girl!"

Both Merida and Keegan turned in surprise to the voice. A tall, muscular lad covered in blue tattoos and sporting a mop of black hair and a large broadsword strapped to his back strutted towards them.

Merida took half a step in front of Keegan. "Hello." She greeted Lord McIntosh's son as politely as she could muster.

He bowed respectfully. "Princess. I'd like to speak to the raven-girl." He offered Keegan a dashing smile. Keegan raised an eyebrow in confusion.

The tall boy seemed not to notice. "I'm Lord McIntosh the younger." He said with a small, cocky bow. He fixed Keegan with a dashing smile as he straightened up. "What you did in there… standing up to the lords like that… that was… very impressive."

Keegan turned her head slightly, regarding him silently and curiously, her head cocked very much like a raven's.

"Tell me, how long are you staying?"

"I uh… I…" Keegan looked at Merida, her confusion evident on her face.

McIntosh took a step forward. Keegan took two back. Merida saw one hand go to her left sleeve as if to pull her knife. "'Cause I'll be here for at least another week. If you need anything: anyone to show you around, show you a good time… I'm your man."

He stretched out a hand, his fingers curling to grip the front of Keegan's dress.

And he would have, if Merida's foot hadn't collided with his ribcage. As he doubled over in pain, she grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully. "Get lost. Keegan doesn't want to talk right now." She pushed him forward and stuck her foot out so that he tumbled to the ground. Young McIntosh drew a gasping breath and made a choking sound but no words came.

Merida lifted her chin and stood over him. "I said get lost. Do I have to remind you that you are in the castle, not the village tavern?"

The young man stumbled to his feet, blushing a deep red all over. Still unable to speak he bowed then walked away down the hall.

Keegan breathed an audible sigh of relief and slid her knife back up her sleeve. "Thanks for that."

"I figured you wanted him to leave you alone." Merida said, placing one hand gently on Keegan's shoulder. "Plus my mum doesn't like it when people fight in the halls."

Keegan pulled her sleeve back into place over the knife. "Where did you learn to do that?" she asked the Princess.

"My dad… he teaches me all about how to fight off unruly lads." Merida grinned. "I know all about how to handle the rowdy ones!"

A smile broke across the sorceress' face. "Well, I suppose no boy will ever get the better of you."

Merida chuckled back. "Nope! The man I marry will never be able to tame me!"

The smile left Keegan's face. "No. No he won'…" She stared at Merida with an expression Merida couldn't read.

"…Keegan…?"

Suddenly, Keegan dashed through the door to her left, the door that led to the kitchens.

"Keegan! Keegan wait!" Merida ran after her, catching the door as it tried to swing closed. "Where are you goin'?" She entered the kitchen to find the raven-haired girl sprawled ungracefully on the floor.

"Keegan! Are you alright?" Apparently, not knowing about the stairs, Keegan had taken a spill right over the end of the steps and landed on the hard stone floor of the kitchen.

The girl twisted to face her and sat up. "I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean too…" She began in a trembling voice. It was then that Merida noticed the flour. Keegan's sprawl had apparently sent her tumbling over a large bag of flour which had burst open like it had been struck by lightning. The white stuff covered the floor and the sorceress herself.

Keegan pulled her legs under herself awkwardly as Merida descended the steps to be at her side. Keegan brushed at her clothes. "The dress… and the flour…" The power clung heavily to the dark, black fabric of the dress in clumps in some places and in a fine white sprinkle in others. It reminded Merida of the night sky.

Keegan looked ashamed and mortified, she dropped her head and refused to look at Merida. "I… I'm sorry Princess…"

Merida ignored her and crouched down to grab a handful of flour off the floor. She rolled it experimentally between her palms. "You know…" She said to Keegan. "This is kind of like snow… only… it's not cold!" Without warning, she threw her handful of flour at the girl. Half-way to Keegan's face, the flimsy ball burst apart. A majority of the intended missile fell harmlessly to the floor in a soft wave of flour.

Keegan blinked, looking from Merida to the floor and back again. "Of course…" She said, scooping up a handful of her own. "It doesn't pack nearly as well as snow does given that it's so dry." She examined the substance and rolled it carefully into a ball. "Of course… for someone like me…" The ball of flour began to peel slowly away from her fingers, still staying in a perfect ball shape until it floated just above her open palm. Merida stared, transfixed; until the ball hit her in the chest and burst open.  
"… it's relatively easy to add just the right amount of moisture to make the flour stick to itself while flying but still break open upon contact." Keegan finished with a cheeky grin.

Merida slowly brushed at the coating of flour spread across her chest.

"You just made a big mistake, little witch…" She said in a dangerously low voice.

The grin on Keegan's face died as quickly as if one of Merida's arrows had pierced it.

Merida grabbed two fistfuls of the powder and flung them right into Keegan's dismayed face. "When someone challenges me," She told the raven-haired girl as she rubbed flour from her eyes. "I fight hard."

Keegan rose into a crouch, a new flour ball already hovering in her palm. "I'm not going to hold back Princess." She warned through her evil grin.

Merida smiled. "I know."

Two flour balls flew out of nowhere and attacked Merida in quick succession. She retaliated by dumping half the flour remaining in the split bag over Keegan's head and jumping on top of the sputtering girl. A thick cloud of white powder rose up among the brawlers as Keegan's flour bombs ruthlessly pummeled Merida and Merida's deft hands flung the substance as best she could.

After some time, both girls collapsed in a heap on top of the remains of their ammunition, breathing hard and chuckling.

"Truce?"

Merida looked over at Keegan, breathing hard from the fight. Keegan was looking right back, her face flushed, her beautiful golden eyes glowing with happiness. Her dark hair had turned a deep gray from all the flour coloring it.

Merida held out a hand. "Alright, but next time we make a no magic rule before the fight starts."

Keegan chuckled as they shook on it. "So you'll be plannin' our next fight I take it?"

"Oh absolutely." Merida said, sitting up and shaking her head. "Next time there will be strict rules that must be obeyed at all times under punishment of death."

"Yes, your majesty. Next time we fight, I'll be sure to…" Keegan's face fell suddenly and she grew silent. "Someone's comin'!" She whispered to Merida.

Merida listened and faintly heard distant footsteps coming from the courtyard. She jumped to her feet. "We can't let them see us like this!" She whispered back. "We'll need to make a run for it!"

Keegan grinned as she rose to her feet. "Don't worry, I'm good at runnin'"

Merida slipped her hand into Keegan's. The flour coating both their hands made it feel like their hands were glued together. "Good." She said. "RUN!"

They raced up the back stairs and down the dark corridor towards the back stairs to Merida's room. Halfway down the corridor however, they collided with someone.

"Merida! What are you…?"

Despite being caught, Merida felt a rush of relief. "Hamish! Thank you!" She dropped Keegan's hand to grip her brother by the shoulders. "We need your help."

"What are you covered in?" Hamish asked, looking them over. "Is it snowing already?"

Merida waved a hand. "Flour, long story. Get us out!"

Hamish hesitated, looking from his sister to the raven-haired girl. Keegan smiled back weakly but seemed unable to think of anything to say.

"I know you know a way out of the castle from here!" Merida said to Hamish. "Come on, we just need to get out to the well!"

Hamish's face contorted briefly as if he couldn't decide if he should help or not.

"Boys!" Came Maudie's cry from the kitchen, startling all three of them. "How many times do I have to tell you that the kitchen is off-limits?!"

"Come on!" Hamish hissed at the girls and they all dashed down the corridor.

* * *

Three minutes later, Merida and Keegan were scrubbing themselves down as best they could with the bucket of icy water hauled from the depths of the well.

"I'm afraid this dress will be perpetually mis-colored." Keegan informed Merida as she futilely attacked the persistent flour stains with a wet rag.

"Can't you magic them out?" Merida asked as she poured water over her hair to rinse out the white bits.

"Not unless you'd prefer it to be on fire." Keegan said morosely as she gave up scrubbing a particularly whiteish patch near her left elbow. She wet the rag again and began to pull it through her grayish hair, turning it black again where the cloth passed. "Cloth and me don' get along very well." She told Merida. "Either that or it's just the natural fail-safe of my family's gift: can't do the spell? Set the target on fire."

Merida raised her eyebrows. "Well I don't think I'd prefer that."

"Nor would I!"

Merida chuckled slightly but stopped at the pained expression on Keegan's face.

"Keegan…" She began softly as she lowered the bucket back into the well. "Why did you insist on wearin' black?"

Keegan froze, the rag still rubbing flour from her hair. "Because of my family." She said quietly.

Merida nodded in understanding. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea…"

Keegan gave a weak shrug. "It was a bandit raid. They happen. We weren't prepared and they paid for it with their lives. I was only four. My brother was about nine." She was twisting the rag so hard all the water had been squeezed out. "All we could do was run. In a way, that's all we've been doing. All our lives. Running."

Merida gently stretched out her hand, reaching for the raven-haired girl's, an unconscious gesture of comfort. The fingers she met were warm even though they were wet and calloused. As Merida slid her palm into that of Keegan's it passed several raised areas of flesh where the knives Keegan loved so dearly had bitten into her skin before she had learned to master them. As if already well practiced, Merida slid her slender fingers between Keegan's, shivering at the deep warmth that seemed to pass from Keegan's palm to her own. She gave the hand a squeeze.

Keegan looked down at their entwined hands then up into Merida's eyes. Then she gently removed her hand. "It's gettin' dark, we should go inside."

Merida nodded, suddenly finding herself unable to look at Keegan.

The two began to make their way back towards the exit Hamish had shown them earlier. Although they were no longer covered in flour, Merida could not come up with a good excuse as to why they would both be soaking wet. She wished they could be out among the trees again, where they wouldn't need to worry about anyone questioning why they had done what they had done.

"Do you ever wish we didn't have to live in a castle like this?" Merida wondered aloud.

"What do you mean?" Keegan asked.

Merida stopped walking and stared up at the darkening castle walls. The crushing expanses of stone that held all the expectations and rules of the world. "Don't you just love the utter freedom the woods give you? An escape from everything?"

Keegan still seemed confused. "That's not how I see it, no."

"Really?" Merida was surprised. "You don't?"

"Merida, I was raised in the woods." Keegan explained. "The largest building I ever lived in before here was Cennwe's cottage." She looked up where the first few stars of the night were beginning to appear. "The forest is my home, not an escape. And just like your home, it comes with its own drawbacks and limitations."

"Like what?"

"My family for one."

Merida didn't reply to that but she had a strong urge to hold Keegan's hand again. She settled instead for following the raven-haired girl's gaze up to the darkening sky. A small handful of stars were poking out overhead, scattered across the sky like campfires in a forest. Merida risked a glance out of the corner of her eye at Keegan. She was staring at the stars as if memorizing their location.

They had led such different lives, opposites nearly. Keegan had grown up nearly alone in a perpetual adventure, learning about magic and knives, spending her days wandering the forest and learning how to fight off bandits. But yet she claimed it still wasn't enough to make her happy. Merida had grown up in the embrace of her family and the crushing weight of an inherited kingdom , escaping to the forest as a way of coping, studying it as an outsider would.

And yet, she couldn't keep from thinking that on some levels, the two very much wished they could swap lives.

"Keegan?" Merida asked gently, to break the silence.

"Hmm?"

Merida looked back up at the stars. "What are your dreams?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where do you want to go with your life?"

Keegan sighed. "In all honesty, I just want things to be the way they were. I want my brother to come home, I want Cennwe to teach us again, to call me stubborn and my brother impatient…" She looked down, blinking hard. "I want my life to be simple again."

Merida had to admit, that was not what she expected. "That's it?"

Keegan looked up at her. "Isn't that enough?" Merida said nothing. "I'm nothing special." Keegan continued. "I don't need a life that's important. I'd much prefer to stay obscure and nameless."

"Says the sorceress." Merida teased with an attempted smile.

To her relief, Keegan smiled back. "There are a lot more of us than you think there are. Most of us just choose the kind of lifestyles Cennwe and I had: simple cottage, artisan trade, occasional hedge-witch dealings. We seek to blend in and use our gifts only for good."

"And the others?"

Keegan played with her ring. "I wouldn't know about them."

Merida dropped the subject.

The two began walking again as the torches around the courtyard began to be lit by the sentries. Just as they reached the stone hiding the passageway however, Keegan's head suddenly snapped up and she paused, staring behind them towards the wall protecting the castle.

Merida tried to follow her gaze but could make out nothing the darkness. The torches were not yet lit on this side of the courtyard. "What is it, Keegan?"

Keegan frowned and peered intently towards the wall. "I thought…" She shook her head as if to clear it. "Nothin'. It's nothin'."

All the same, Merida noticed Keegan glancing out towards the castle wall as the two prepared for bed that night. But she said nothing as they settled down for their second night sleeping in the same bed together.

Sleep did not come as quickly for Merida this night. She kept turning over the events of the day in her mind: Keegan's words at the meeting, her interaction with Young McIntosh and her humble acceptance of a boring life. Merida thought it all through until she finally came to her conclusion: Keegan was lonely. She longed for the family she could barely remember and clung to her brother, (what was his name?) who seemed to have a nasty habit of abandoning her. She did not feel at home here in the castle, nor could she navigate the twisted paths of human interaction here as well as most did. But when they had thrown flour at each other… for those few minutes of breathless, joyful fun, Keegan had been playful, happy, flirtatious even.

Merida desperately hoped that, despite the difficult, restrictive life inside the castle walls, she could convince the raven-haired girl to stay. Even just for a few more days. Despite just meeting this girl, it felt like she had known Keegan all her life. She couldn't imagine another day in the castle without her.

Merida listened quietly for a few moments until she heard Keegan's quiet, sleepy breaths. Her hand snaked its way silently under the covers until it met Keegan's. Merida covered the warm hand with her own in a friendly gesture of reassurance. But she knew it was also a selfish plea.

_I'm here for you. Now please stay for me._


End file.
